


Shelter

by Hepzheba



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (just one), Adoption, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animals, Bottom Stiles Stilinski, Cats, Dogs, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Kid Fic, Light Angst, Llamas, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Past Drug Use, Sheep, Shelter, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Teacher Stiles, Writer Derek, past overdose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-06-08 21:10:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6873349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hepzheba/pseuds/Hepzheba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Derek’s aunt Norma dies someone needs to go to her house to sell it. After a rough breakup, Derek volunteers to go across the country to sell the house and the animal shelter Norma ran. What Derek wasn’t expecting was to meet and fall for Stiles. Nor was he expecting to fall in love with the place, the shelter and its animals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Nanowrimo fic of 2015. The final result is a bit under 50k words though because I've erased some parts. 
> 
> Side-pairings in this story is: Jackson/Lydia, Scott/Allison, Erica/Boyd and Lydia/Jordan. There's also mentioned Stiles/OFC and Derek/Jennifer.
> 
> A huge thank you goes out to my lovely beta foreverblue-navy. And also everyone in the Swedish nanowrimo chat. You won't read this but this story wouldn't be if it wasn't for you guys.

Derek has never really reflected on the distance between Beacon Hills and New York. When he was younger and they went to visit aunt Norma Owin he just thought it was a really long way. As he and his siblings grew older they found other things to think fun than going to see their old aunt - who wasn't actually that old. Derek's parents had still gone at least once a year when Derek and his sisters were teenagers and old enough to stay home by themselves. Thinking about it now, Derek's quite sure his parents went to aunt Norma just a few months before they died in a car crash, leaving Derek and his sisters alone. That was over ten years ago though and Derek's over it. Well, as over he can ever get losing both parents when he was only sixteen.

He turns up the volume on the radio, not wanting to think about his parents, and checks the GPS on his phone, he only has half an hour left before he reaches his destination: Norma Owin's house just outside a small town called Beacon Hills.

Norma passed away three weeks ago and apparently someone needs to sort out the papers to sell her house. They could probably do it by sending the papers but Derek needs a break from New York and all it entails for him at the moment.

He turns the volume up another notch, letting Bon Jovi's _Livin' on a prayer_ blast from the speakers. He doesn't want to think about New York or Jennifer either.

He passes a sign that welcomes him to Beacon Hills and checks the GPS, he's supposed to drive straight through the town. The term small town might even be an exaggeration, he passes a pharmacist, a grocery store, a clothes store and a bakery. Probably all the shops the town has to offer. The one traffic light blinks yellow as Derek drives past it, not another car or person in sight, which isn't really surprising seeing as it's two in the morning.

He drives maybe another five minutes  before he follows the GPS's instructions and turns onto another road, this one isn't made of asphalt but hard-packed dirt. At the end of the road there's a large, white farm house. A blue Jeep already sits on the yard and Derek parks his Camaro next to it. The Jeep reminds him of aunt Norma for some reason and he thinks it suited her quite well. He steps out of the car and makes a face at the mud, he hopes it will be able to come off his suede shoes.

The yard is dark, the light on the porch not even reaching out to half the yard, and Derek startles when he hears rustling of leaves. He turns and maybe it's his imagination but he thinks he sees something reflect the light from the porch but the next minute it's gone. He hopes it's just a rabbit or something. There are no wolves here, are there? He hurries to unload his bag and drags it through the mud towards the house.

He reaches the door and tries the handle, just because, but to his surprise he finds the door unlocked. He opens the door and steps inside. He searches for a light switch and manages to find one that lights up the hallway. The place looks just like he remembers, a long corridor with the kitchen to the right and two rooms with closed doors on the left.  When he passes the kitchen he sees a small shadow on the table and there's a thump before the shadow approaches him quickly. The cat meows and rubs its body against Derek's leg.

"Uh, hi," Derek says, unsure how to talk to cats.

The cat seems satisfied with his answer and slinks off back to the kitchen again. Derek continues past the first door, remembering it being aunt Norma's bedroom, and it would be weird sleeping in her bed, wouldn't it? The second room on the left is a guestroom, if Derek's memory does not deceive him.

He opens the door, it creaks slightly, and is just about to step inside when he notices a lump on the bed. A human-shaped lump. As if someone is sleeping there. Derek has no idea what to do. He knew people were too trustworthy and now a burglar has come inside and... done what? Realized he was too tired to steal something? Derek has no idea why there's a person in the house when the house should be empty. Suddenly there's movement and two cats jump down from the bed and start to growl at him.

The human on the bed makes some noises and then the room is flooded by lights.

"What do you want? I ain't got no money!" The person says and swings a bat in Derek's direction. The guy's got dark hair and dark, wide-opened eyes. He looks just as startled to see Derek as Derek is him.

"What do _I_ want?" Derek repeats. "What do _you_ want?"

"What I want is to sleep a whole night without some sexy thief-" the man waves his bat at Derek and Derek doesn't know if he should be flattered at being called sexy or annoyed at being called thief. "-coming here and trying to rob me."

"I'm not a thief," Derek settles for. "But you are! What are you doing here?"

"I'm not a thief," the not-thief replies and glares at Derek. "I live here. Now, I'm asking one more time before I call the cops - and let me tell you, my dad's the sheriff he'll have your ass - what do you want?"

"You live here?" Derek repeats.

"Yes, got the memo yet?"

"But, Norma..."

The guy lowers the bat, "you know Norma?"

"She's my aunt."

This must be the weirdest conversation Derek's ever had. And he's grown up with two sisters.

"Oh, _oh,_ " the guy says and sets the bat against the wall next to the bed. "You're Norma's nephew!"

Derek nods and waits for the rest of the explanation. The guy rubs his head sheepishly and then covers his body with his arms - it's first now that Derek notices that the guy is wearing nothing but his underwear.  Derek can't help the way his eyes travels down the guy's body, he just can't.

"I'm Stiles," the guy says and Derek's eyes snap up to his face again. The guy's cheeks look as red as Derek's feels.

"Derek," Derek introduces himself and wonders if he should shake the guy's hand. Stiles doesn't seem to deem that necessary though.

"Shut up, you two," Stiles tells the two cats that have been growling all this time. The cats aren't cats at all but two small dogs, Derek realizes when they step out from behind the bed. They look like Dobermans but the size of cats.

"This is Dylan and Tyler," the guy introduces, "and the cat is Merida."

"Cat?" Derek wonders if he means the cat in the kitchen.

Stiles points on his bed where a red, white and black cat lies sleeping, not even deigning to look up at Derek at the introduction.

"Oh," Derek says at lack of anything better to say.

"You can sleep in Norma's old room, come on, I'll show you," Stiles says and ushers Derek out of his room and to Norma's old bedroom. Derek wonders what Stiles is doing there but as he spots the bed he realizes he's way too tired to have that conversation now, it can wait till tomorrow.

After Stiles has left him alone in the room he falls asleep remarkably quickly.

 

When Derek wakes up the next morning he feels a weight on his legs that he isn't used to. When he looks down he spots a red cat lying across his legs. The cat is big and it looks like it's trying to be as long as possible. Derek eases out from under the cat as carefully as possible and the cat doesn't seem to mind the disturbance; it only makes a meowing sound before turning over and continues to sleep.

Derek showers before he emerges from his room. The house is seemingly empty, save from the animals. There are three dogs in a basket in the kitchen; the two miniature Dobermans and a larger white and black dog, Derek thinks it's a border collie. The calico cat Merida lies on the kitchen bench and when Derek turns to search for coffee maker he spots a grey cat on top of the fridge, one of its paws sticking out over the top. He finds the coffee maker and starts the machine before finding some bread. He sits down on one of the chairs to eat his breakfast and the red cat from his bedroom comes into the kitchen and sits down beside him on the kitchen bench, watching him intently.

"What? You want this?" he motions for the cheese. The cat stares at him without blinking. Derek plucks a small piece from the cheese and feeds it to the cat, who eats it greedily. The dogs watch him but they don't make any efforts to try to make him feed them as well.

After he's had his breakfast, Derek decides to go call Laura and ask if she knew there was someone else living in Norma's house. Sadly, he doesn't find reception anywhere in the house so he puts on his black shoes and coat, reminding himself to clean the muddy shoes after he's talked to Laura.  When he opens the door the red cat slinks out before he has time to stop it. Derek walks after it slowly, trying not to scare it, but the cat spots him and sets off towards the trees. Derek hopes the cat is allowed to be outside. He wonders where Stiles is and sighs.

There's no reception outside either. There's a field with a small hill and Derek thinks that maybe there'll be reception on top of the hill. The higher the better, right? He stalks up the hill and tries his phone and is relieved when it actually works.

"Good morning, sunshine," Laura chirps, way too happily.

"Did you know Norma had a roommate?"

"Of course I do, didn't I tell you?"

"No, you didn't," Derek glares at the house at lack of having anything else to glare at.

The view is actually quite spectacular. To the right of the house there's a pasture and Derek can see some black and white sheep graze there. There's another door to the house, to the very right of it and Derek guesses that's where the door to the shelter Norma used to run is. When Derek was a kid Norma just used to take in stray animals but at that time it was more of an interest of hers instead of actual business.

Derek tells his sister about Stiles and how he got threatened with a baseball bat.

"Just you, brother dear," she giggles and Derek glares at the sheep. "Is he nice?"

"Who?"

"Norma's man," Laura says and Derek can practically see her rolling her eyes at him.

"I don't know, I guess, when he lowered the bat."

Laura snorts in amusement.

"Wait, Norma's man as in Norma's _man_?" Derek asks and is a bit scandalized at the thought of Norma and Stiles being, well, partners.

"Yes, I thought he was her man, like her boyfriend. It's so weird to say boyfriend when it's old people. But I mean, he lives with her, why would he do that if he's not her boyfriend?"

"But he's young!" Derek protests because Stiles is. Probably younger than Derek's thirty-two.

"He is?" Laura asks and Derek imagines she moves further out onto the seat of her chair, greedy to hear gossip.

"Yeah, probably not even thirty."

"Go aunt Norma," Laura laughs.

"But do you really think they were- you know?" Derek asks because Norma had been old and rather ugly and Stiles was... well, not old and ugly. Stiles was, come to think of it, not ugly at all.

"Yes, Derek, why else would he live there? It makes sense."

"No, it doesn't," Derek protests.

"Well, then, you're there, figure out if they were a thing or not."

Derek sighs and prepares himself mentally for doing what Laura asked of him. Being the younger brother he knows he has no choice but to obey her.

After ending the call with his sister, Derek walks down the hill, not really looking where he's setting his feet and suddenly slips, landing on his ass. The wet mud sips through his jeans and he groans and tries to wipe his hands clean from the mud. Just his luck. Now he's ruined his shoes _and_ his jeans.

When he get back to the house, the red cat sits on the porch outside the door. It meows and glares at him when he approaches.

"It was you who snuck outside," Derek tells the cat and it hurries inside and to the kitchen when he opens the door.

The house is still seemingly empty of people. Derek wonders if Stiles has left or maybe he's with the animals in the shelter? Derek guesses someone has to be there unless they've already managed to shut the place down? Derek kind of wishes he had listened more to Laura when she told him about it, but it had never really been his plan to come here and when he did it was mostly in the spur of a moment than having made any plans beforehand.

The door to the guest room - Stiles' room? - is opened and the bed is a mess but there's no person inside. Derek sighs and goes to try to clean his shoes and jeans instead.

When he emerges from his room in his second outfit of the day there are voices from the kitchen. He approaches with caution and finds Stiles and another person sitting by the kitchen table. Stiles just finishes what appears to be a joke or a funny story because the other guy laughs and then they both look up at Derek.

"Derek, this is Scott, our local vet and my best bud. Scott, this is Derek, Norma's nephew."

Derek shakes Scott's hand and wonders if he should sit down at the table with them.

"He came here last night," Stiles explains, "I almost bashed his head in with my bat. It was hilarious."

Stiles hadn't seemed to think it was hilarious at the time but Derek guesses he can see the humor in the situation now. Derek can kind of also see the humor in it now.

"Come on, sit down," Stiles says and gestures against the chairs next to him. Scott is on the bench and he smiles broadly at Derek. He reminds Derek a bit of a puppy.

"Scott was just checking one of the dogs in the shelter," Stiles explains. "We were a bit worried about her runny eyes but Scotty gave her some cream so soon she'll be good again."

Scott nods and Derek doesn't know what to say, but before he has time to worry about that, Stiles starts to explain about the shelter and how many dogs and cats they have.

"What about these?" Derek asks, gesturing towards the calico cat on the bench and the three dogs in the basket.

"They're mine," Stiles says. "Well, not Molly, the border collie. She's Norma's. Or yours now, I guess. She came here some years ago, what was it? Two years?" Scott nods in affirmation and Stiles continues, "Norma fell in love with her and couldn't put her up for adoption. Same with me and those three," Stiles gestures at the Doberman look-a-likes and the calico cat on the bench.

"What about the others? The red cat and the grey one," Derek asks, gesturing towards the fridge where the grey cat is still lying. The red one is nowhere in sight though.

"They're up for adoption but can't stand being in cages. Oliver, the red one, is the only one allowed outside. He came here when his old owner died and no one wanted him anymore. The relatives just kicked him out of the house. I don't understand what's wrong with some people."

Derek nods in understanding.

"Barney, the grey one, was found just some weeks ago. Someone put him out in a cage next to the road and just left him there."

Derek can understand what Stiles means when he says he wonders what's wrong with some people. Derek might not be an animal person but he can't understand how someone can just kick out an animal, a living creature.

Scott leaves after a while and Derek is left with Stiles, feeling awkward. He thinks about his conversation with Laura and how Stiles and Norma probably were a couple. It's weird to think that this guy who seems so young and full of life just has lost his life partner.

 

Later that day, Stiles shows Derek the shelter and how to take care of the animals, they get fed two times a day and all the dogs need walks and the cats need someone to play with. They spend some time playing with the cats before Stiles decides they should take the dogs for a walk. Derek gets to take a Dalmatian and a German shepherd while Stiles takes four dogs of, to Derek, unknown breeds. The walk is nice, Stiles fills it with talk about animals he's met at the shelter over the years he's been there.

"How long have you known aunt Norma?" Derek asks, watching Stiles' reaction carefully. Stiles doesn't seem to be overcome by sadness but shrugs and tugs at one of the dogs' leashes to make it stop tugging.

"About two years, I think," Stiles answers after a moment's consideration. "Well, I've always known that she runs the shelter- ran the shelter, but I started helping out some two years ago and got to know her a lot better. She's helped me through some rough shit. She is- was one of my best friends."

Derek nods. He and Jen had been close too and he'd considered her one of his best friends before it all went down.

"She was always great at knowing which animal a person should adopt, I'm not at all like that, but I love the animals."

"I've never been much of an animal person," Derek admits, "we always wanted a dog when we were kids but Cora, my sister, was allergic."

"My dad said he was allergic too, but guess who got a cat when I moved out?"

Stiles laughs and Derek feels a smile tugging on his own lips as well.

When they get back from the walk, they head inside the shelter to leave the dogs in the cages. Stiles stops to talk to some of the dogs and let them lick his hand through the bars of their big walk-in cages. They leave the animals and Stiles tells him that some kids from the local high school will come by later and walk the rest of the dogs. Stiles then writes in a notebook that which dogs he and Derek had taken on walks.

"It's a good way to keep track of who's gotten their walk and if there's anything else we should know. Norma was here all the time but the rest of us have other jobs and obligations as well."

"This isn't your job?" Derek asks and Stiles shakes his head.

"I work at the high school as a history teacher," Stiles says. "What do you do for a living?"

Derek rubs his neck, he doesn't particularly like talking about his line of work.

"I'm a writer," he says when he can't prolong the answer.

"A writer?" Stiles says and he looks surprised, "Have you written anything I might've read?"

"I don't know," Derek says and thinks of his cheesy spy novels. "Probably not."

"I don't recognize your name so maybe not," Stiles says.

"I write under a pseudonym," Derek reveals, "D.H. Tate."

"What? You're kidding? I love your books, dude!"

Derek feels his face and ears heat up at the praise but he also feels pleased that someone that's not his sisters like his books. And for some reason, even more pleased that it's _Stiles_ that likes his books.

"Thanks," Derek says and wonders if he should ask Stiles not to call him dude, it makes him feel like he's in high school again.

Before Derek can decide on what to say Stiles starts talking about Derek's latest book and what he liked about it.

Derek has Googled his own name, of course he has, and he's read both good and bad reviews but it different to hear someone praise him in person.

"So what's you latest book about?" Stiles asks and Derek feels uncomfortable. His editor has been on him to start on the next book for ages but he hasn't had any inspiration.

"I haven't started on it yet," Derek admits and Stiles pouts. "I was hoping maybe a change of scenery could help."

It's only half a lie, Derek has been thinking that maybe he'll be able to get started on his book when he stays here in Beacon Hills.

"That's awesome, man! Can you feature me in your book?"

Stiles then looks horrified with himself.

"No, don't do that, you'd probably kill me."

Derek laughs at that, he wouldn't kill off Stiles, but if he did feature the guy it'd probably turn into a cheesy romance novel where he describes Stiles' pouty, pink lips and cute, upturned nose, and then he would lose all of his current fans...

He shakes his head and looks away from said pink, pouty lips. Stiles doesn't seem to have noticed Derek's obvious looks to which Derek's thankful.

"Come on, let's have some coffee," Stiles says and ushers Derek to a door to the right. When he opens the door he finds himself in the kitchen and Stiles goes to make coffee.

"Jackson said he'd come by sometime today," he says as he measures the beans.

"Jackson?" Derek asks because he's only met and heard about Scott yet.

"Whittemore," Stiles explains and turns around to face Derek, who sits down at the table. Derek doesn't look at Stiles' long body that's on display as the guy leans against the counter. "Norma's lawyer. He's a bit of an ass but I guess he's okay at what he does."

"Okay," Derek says and guesses that this Jackson guy has the paper he needs to sign before he can try to sell the house. He wonders if he will manage to sell the house, who would even want to buy a house with a shelter? The shelter will probably have to go, he thinks as Stiles starts to explain the rivalry between Scott and Jackson in high school. Apparently they were both co-captains of the lacrosse team. Whatever that is.

"What's lacrosse?" Derek interrupts and Stiles looks scandalized.

"Only the best sport ever," he says with a hand on his heart as if he's about to break out into the national anthem.

He doesn't sing, but instead start to explain the sport that is lacrosse. As Stiles explains about the sport, Derek vaguely remembers Cora playing it when she was in high school. She only played for a season or two until she got benched because she tackled one of her team mates because "she ran too slow". Their parents had not been pleased at this, Derek remembers with a fond smile.

"My sister used to play lacrosse," he tells Stiles, who shines up as if Christmas has come early. He then tells Stiles about Cora quitting and Stiles laughs.

The sound of the door breaks them from their talk of lacrosse and when Derek turns to the door opening he's met by a guy in suit with a purple tie. Right next to the man there's a black Labrador that walks over to the basket. The dog is limping slightly and when Derek looks down at its leg he notices that one of its front legs is missing.

"You must be Derek," the guy say, "I'm Jackson Whittemore, Norma's lawyer."

Derek shakes Jackson's hand and then watches as Stiles gives Jackson a shove with his shoulder.

"Jackass," Stiles mutters.

"Asshat," Jackson mutters back, but both of them seem to think it's more amusing than anything else.

Derek can't help but roll his eyes at them. Stiles catches him and winks at him with a smile before he goes to put out mugs on the table. Jackson sits down in one of the chairs and turns to Derek.

"I have the papers with me," he says, "you just have to sign them and then you and your sisters are the owners of this house."

Derek nods and Jackson turns to his briefcase.

"Are you going to stay here to run it or what's the plan?" he asks as he looks through the papers in the briefcase.

"We're going to sell it," Derek says.

There's a clang as Stiles drops something and Jackson stills.

"Sell it?" he asks and Derek nods.

"We don't live here and we don't know anything about running a shelter."

"People just want the house, not the shelter," Stiles says, his voice is low but harsh. "If you sell it, the shelter would die out."

"I'm sorry but I can't-"

"Stiles, if he wants to sell it..." Jackson says and Stiles turns to glare at him.

"Because the shelter is not doing anything good, is that what you're saying?"

"You know that's not what I'm saying. I care about the animals just as much as you do, but it's not up to us."

Derek feels like a kid again, when his parents got into one of their rare fights, and Derek was stuck in between, not being able to say or do anything to make them stop.

"I don't want coffee," Stiles says and leaves the kitchen. Derek wonders if he should follow him and try to explain. But how can he explain it if Stiles doesn't understand what Jackson said?

"Just give him some time," Jackson says and goes to pour up the coffee for them. "I guess we just thought that you would keep the shelter and run it."

"I'm sorry," Derek says and Jackson shrugs.

"I get it," he says and pours Derek some coffee. "I couldn't find the papers, I must have left them at the office, I'll bring them some other day."

Derek nods and accepts some sugar to his coffee. Jackson pours some milk in his coffee before sitting down again.

"Minnie, my lab, comes from the shelter. You might have noticed that she's only got three legs?"

Derek nods, turning to watch the dog that's lying next to Jackson on the floor now.

"Someone had put her in a dumpster," Jackson explains, "the leg was unsalvageable. She's one year now. If it hadn't been for Norma no one would have taken care of her and she would've been put down. It's the same with Stiles' animals, the shelter - Norma - took them in when no one else would."

"I get that but I can't just leave my life in New York," Derek says but a traitorous voice asks what life? He doesn't have any friends except his sisters really. When he and Jen broke off it wasn't really hard to leave New York for an unforeseeable future. Maybe he could stay here and...? No, he can't. He has his life in New York, Laura lives there and he has his job there.

"I understand," Jackson nods. "And Stiles will, too, he's just stubborn."

Derek nods and turns towards the door, as if he's expecting Stiles to come back. He doesn't.

 

Stiles does come back out later that day.

"I'm just mad at this situation," he says and Derek nods where he's sitting on the couch in the living room. "I just wish... I'm angry at Norma for dying and leaving us with this mess."

"Can't you buy the house?" Derek asks and Stiles laughs hollowly.

"With what money? Teachers don't really make a buck load of money, you know."

Derek nods and thinks he could sell the place to Stiles really cheap.

"Maybe I could-" Derek begins but Stiles interrupts him.

"Sell it at an underprice?" Derek nods. "I still couldn't afford it. I'm sorry. It's just..."

Stiles plops down next to Derek on the couch.

"It's just a mess," Derek says and Stiles nods.

"No one understands me like you do," Stiles says and flutters his eyes in Derek's direction. Derek laughs at him and Stiles laughs too. Derek guesses they're going to be alright after all.

They've only sat in silence for a minute or two when the sound of the door opening reaches them.

"Hello?" a woman's voice calls. "Stiles?"

"In here," Stiles replies. "It's Erica and probably Boyd and Isaac too."

A girl in maybe her high school years comes in followed by a dark, large boy and a boy with curly, blond locks.

"This is Derek, Norma's nephew," Stiles introduces, "Derek, this is Erica, Boyd and Isaac."

He points to the girl, the dark boy and the curly-haired boy as he makes the introductions.

"Are you taking over the place after Norma?" Erica asks and looks excited at the prospect.

"I-" Derek begins but Stiles interrupts him.

"Come on, kids, let's get you something to eat."

The kids follow Stiles to the kitchen and a while later Derek hears upset voices and guesses Stiles has dropped the bomb - that Derek is selling the place.

Derek still gets invited to go for a second walk with the dogs that day. Erica is glaring at him but Isaac talks to him in a low voice. Boyd doesn't say much but he doesn't seem to talk much at all. Derek notices him watching Erica though and can't help but smile slightly to himself. Isaac tells him about being on the lacrosse team and about his favorite subject in school - English.

"Derek's a writer, you could get some inside tips from him," Stiles reveals and almost tangles himself up in the leashes in his hurry to turn towards Derek and Isaac.

"Really?" Isaac asks, wide-eyed.

"Yeah," Derek says and sends a glare Stiles' way.

"That's so cool," Isaac says and starts firing questions about Derek's book and how he became a writer. Derek wants to feel annoyed at all the questions but when he notices how Isaac gets more confident and his voice gets a more normal, happier tone, he can't help but smile and answer as good as possible.

The walk is soon over and Erica seems to have abandoned her dislike of Derek when she hears him and Isaac talk. She soon joins in on the conversation and seems just as interested in hearing Derek's answers as Isaac is. Boyd doesn't say much but Derek can tell he's listening to them by the way he laughs softly along with the rest of them.

They let the dogs back into their cages and then play with the cats for a long while. Derek finds himself laughing along with the others and wonders why he's never had friends like this in New York. All of his friends were also Jen's friends and they all disappeared when he broke things off with her. He doesn't doubt that she told them lies about why they broke off.

 

Derek's days get a routine after that. He gets up and goes for a jog with some of the dogs. Some mornings Stiles joins him but some days he has classes and Derek is left alone to tend to the animals.

He's on his way back to the shelter with the German shepherd and the Dalmatian when one of the sheep gets up from the ground it's been lying on. The sheep - that's not a sheep at all but something bigger - then gallops towards them and Derek backs away from the pasture quickly. Only, one of the dogs is behind him and he falls down onto his back on the ground. The dogs bark and the not-sheep - it's a freaking llama, Derek realizes - spits at them. Derek feels something wet and warm on his cheek and hurries away from the pasture, pulling two upset dogs with him.

"What the fuck?" he asks the dogs and they seem to agree with him.

Once back at the house he cleans away the green goo the llama had spat at him. A freaking llama!

"Of course they have a llama," Derek mutters to himself.

Stiles finds the story hilarious when he gets back. He laughs for five minutes straight before he manages to calm down.

"Why do you even have a llama?" Derek asks over Stiles' chuckles as Stiles wipes at his eyes.

"Because someone tried to keep it in an apartment," he says. "Besides, it keeps the coyotes away from the sheep."

"How?"

"The same way it kept you and the dogs away," Stiles laughs and winks at Derek.

"By spitting at them?"

Stiles shrugs.

"He's really nice though," Stiles says. "His name is Chi. Come on, let's go talk to him."

Despite Derek's protests, Stiles drags him out to the pasture where the sheep and the llama lives. There are three sheep, two white ones and one black. They all come over to them and butt their heads against Stiles' legs.

"This is Buffy, Willow and Dawn," Stiles introduces and points at the two white ones before he points at the black sheep.

"Shouldn't he be Giles or something then?" Derek asks and points to the llama.

"It sounds too much like Stiles," Stiles answers with a wink. "Besides, he already had his name from before he came here."

The llama butts his head against Stiles' chest and closes his eyes when Stiles rubs at his forehead.

"He's not dangerous at all. Are you, you big baby?"

Chi doesn't say anything but lowers his head slightly to let Stiles rub his head.

"Can I pet him?" Derek surprises himself by asking and Stiles nods.

"Just pet him wherever, he loves everything."

Derek pats the llama's neck and wonders at the softness of its white wool.  They stay with the sheep and the llama for a while before they head back to the house.

"I told you he wasn't dangerous," Stiles laughs and shoves Derek gently with his shoulder.

"Not now he wasn't. You should see him angry."

"I always take the long way around the sheep's pasture when I have dogs with me for that reason."

"I'll keep that in mind," Derek says and is sure he's going to do the same in the future.

 

"Have you figured out if they were lovers yet?" Laura asks the next time he talks to her. To be honest, Derek has forgotten about Laura and how she was a gossiping old lady when it came to other people's love life.

"I guess," Derek says. "We haven't talked about it or anything but I guess you're right. Why else would he live here with her?"

"Well, you have to be sure," Laura states and Derek rolls his eyes.

"I can't just ask him, can I?"

"Sure you can!" Laura says and Derek growls at her to shut up. His sister can be really annoying sometimes. It's easy for Laura to say he should just ask Stiles. Laura isn't the one being there, she's not the one being attracted to Stiles. The fact that Derek is attracted to Stiles only makes it harder, because he wants Stiles and Norma to not have been an item.

Derek tries to put it out of his mind after the call with Laura, it only partly works. He tries watching Stiles closely to see if he seems sad, but it's hard since he didn't know Stiles before Norma died. Stiles doesn't seem overly sad though, but it's hard to tell. He doesn't ask Stiles about it though, putting it up and thinking he'll ask in the future when they know each other better. He knows he won't, but he's telling himself (and Laura) that he's going to ask Stiles about it.

He manages to put it out of his mind when Stiles drags him to a lacrosse game. Lacrosse is apparently not only a big thing at the high school but the whole town follows the sport religiously. Derek isn't entirely sure exactly how Stiles convinced him to go to the game but one Friday he's next to Stiles, Erica and Boyd in the stands, waiting for the game to start. The air is filled with excitement and Derek can feel himself catch onto the mood of everyone else.

Turns out lacrosse isn't the boring game Derek thought it was but one filled with quick turns. Next to him, Stiles is almost standing in his seat, yelling along with the rest of the crowd whenever something good or bad happens on the field.

After the game Stiles says they always met up to have pizza at the shelter so Derek just tags along. It's not like he has any choice really. He meets Jackson's girlfriend, a pretty, red-haired woman in high heels.

"I'm Lydia," she introduces herself. "I work alongside Jackson."

"Before you ask, she's not my secretary," Jackson hurries to add. "People always assume that and Lydia rips them a new one for that."

"You shouldn't have warned him," Stiles says and laughs, "I love to see Lydia being mean to people other than me. "

"You're right, that _is_ fun," Jackson says and looks mournful.

"Well, I'm glad you warned me," Derek says, "though I did assume you work as a lawyer too, is that right?"

Lydia preens and smiles sweetly at Derek.

"I own the firm," she smiles and Jackson groans next to her, but putting his arm around her shoulders.

"That's quite impressive," Derek tells her and she looks even smugger at that. "You're what? Twenty-six?"

"Twenty-seven, just like Stiles and Jackson," she says. "We went to high school together."

They part ways to get in their cars, Derek going in the blue Jeep that wasn't Norma's but Stiles' along with Erica and Boyd while Jackson and Lydia take Jackson's Porsche.

"So what did you think of lacrosse?" Stiles asks. "It was fun, wasn't it?"

Derek laughs and nods.

"Yeah," he admits, "it was rather fun."

Stiles gives him a blinding smile that makes Derek's insides feel funny.

"I told you."

Back at the house they meet up with Scott and his girlfriend Allison. She's got dark hair and a dimpled smile that she fires off at Derek when they're introduced to each other.

They eat pizza and drink beer - Erica, Boyd and Jackson don't drink any though - and Derek finds himself laughing and talking with the rest of them. He wonders why he can't have friends like this in New York and stops himself from thinking that maybe he should stay here instead. As Cora's in Brazil, he only really has Laura in New York and he's sure Laura would come and visit him. And he could visit Laura.

He shakes his head, he's not supposed to think like that. He's supposed to just sell the place and go back home to New York.

Stiles throws his head back and laughs at something Scott has said and Derek finds himself watching the pale, long neck on display for him. He wonders if Stiles would mind if he leans over and licked it. He shakes his head again and wonders how many beers he's had. Too many, obviously.

People start to leave soon after that and soon it's only Derek and Stiles left with the empty pizza boxes and beer bottles. They clean up as quickly as they can and then they sit down on the couch in the living room again. Derek turns to listen to something Stiles says, but he forgets what when he notices Stiles licking his pink lips. Derek's eyes track the movement and he knows Stiles just caught on to it. Stiles' eyes are wide and his pupils dilated.

Derek thinks of leaning forward to capture Stiles' lips with his own, but before he can do that Stiles leans forward and does just that. Stiles' lips are soft and warm and his tongue is wet and Derek thinks he might be high on Stiles. Stiles makes a noise in the back of his throat and pushes himself against Derek's body. Derek's arm encircles Stiles' waist and he pulls the other man onto his lap.

"Yeah," Stiles mutters against his lips, grinding down hard. Derek groans when he feels Stiles' erection against his own and his hands find their way into Stiles' hair, tugging his head backwards so he can kiss the other man's throat. Stiles makes a pretty noise and rubs their erections together.

"Oh, yeah, come on, Der," he mutters and starts to unbutton his own jeans.

"Yeah," Derek agrees and presses biting kisses to Stiles' neck. Stiles gets off his own jeans and gets to work on Derek's before he straddles Derek's lap again, taking their cocks in his hand.

Derek's had hand-jobs with guys before, when he was in college, before he met Jen, but he's quite sure it's never felt this good, this brilliant.

Stiles jerks them quickly, his hips working in slow circles against Derek's, adding to the friction of his hand and Derek can feel himself being close.

"Stiles, I'm close," he warns and Stiles sends him a dazzling smile and presses kisses to his lips, cheek and neck.

"Come on, Der, come for me then."

That's it. Derek comes with a groan and Stiles milks him dry until it's almost painful. Derek groans at him and Stiles' hand leaves Derek's cock to work on his own. He works it quickly and before Derek has time to help him out Stiles is coming with a long moan, spurting across Derek's stomach.

"That was hot," Stiles whispers against his forehead and presses a kiss there.

"Yeah," Derek agrees.

Stiles cleans them up and then he takes Derek's hand and leads him to his bedroom.

"I don't know about you, but I love cuddles so we're going to cuddle until we fall asleep."

Derek smiles at that.

"Okay."


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles wakes up to feeling warm and slightly suffocated. There's a weight across his back and he smiles at the memory from last night. He can't believe his luck. He had thought that Derek liked him too, but hadn't dared to do anything until Lydia had taken him aside last night to the kitchen and told him that Derek was undressing him with his eyes, right there in front of everybody. Lydia found it quite disturbing, she said, before wishing Stiles good luck.

Stiles wants to giggle and squeal in delight but Derek's body over his back makes that quite hard. Also, he's trying to keep up some facade of being at least slightly normal. Derek makes a cute noise and rolls off of Stiles. Stiles finds himself missing the warmth and weight, even if it's good to be able to breathe again. He turns around in time to see Derek open his gorgeous, pale eyes. What even is that color? At first Stiles had thought them to be blue but sometimes they look hazel, sometimes grey like a stormy sky and sometimes they look green. He's yet to figure out the wonders that is Derek's eyes.

"Morning," Stiles smiles and Derek blinks tiredly at him.

Oh, god, please don't regret this, Stiles has time to think before Derek smiles at him and shuffles closer.

"Morning," he rasps, his voice rough with morning. It's kind of sexy really.

"I was afraid you'd regret last night," Stiles admits and Derek shakes his head.

"Not yet at least," he smiles.

"Haha," Stiles says drily, "you're a funny man."

He shuffles closer and Derek pulls their bodies against each other, his arm around Stiles' waist.

"Well, it is a good morning," Stiles chuckles breathlessly when he feels Derek's morning wood press against his hip. It does feel rather awesome and Stiles can't wait to get his hands on it again.

They leave bed almost an hour later and make breakfast together. It's domestic in a way Stiles barely even dared to dream of having and he doesn't want Derek to ever go away. But Derek is leaving, Stiles realizes with a heavy heart. He watches as Derek talks to Tyler and Dylan and feeds them a piece of cheese each. Derek would be perfect here, Stiles thinks. He's already grown way more comfortable around the animals than he was when he first came here and the animals seem to love him. He decides there that he's going to do everything he can to make Derek stay and if Derek decides to stay because of what he and Stiles have then that's just a bonus. Stiles can't help but hope that Derek will stay because of him more than anything else.

After lunch they go for a run with some of the dogs. Stiles can't believe he lets Derek drag him out for the runs, really. He hasn't really exercised much since when he was on the lacrosse team in high school. But then he turns and sees Derek smile at Molly who runs beside him without a leash and thinks the pain of running is definitely worth seeing that smile.

 

"I'm falling for him, Scotty," Stiles tells his best friend who drops by later that day. Derek is out on a second walk with the dogs along with Erica and Isaac.

"You barely know him," Scott comments and checks the teeth of the cat in front of him on the examination table.

"You didn't know Allison at all when you declared you were going to marry her," Stiles replies and leans his elbows against the table. He pets the cat, which only serves him a glare from the cat. It's one of the few animals that doesn't like Scott, maybe because he always prods at her. Stiles wouldn't like Scott if Scott always prodded him either. Who is he kidding? Scott is awesome, he'd probably like Scott anyway.

"Yeah, but Allison was the love of my life... Oh."

"Yeah," Stiles nods.

"You've got it bad," Scott looks concerned and as his focus is shifted from the cat, the cat takes that opportunity to escape. It doesn't come far though as Stiles has learnt to close the door just in case something like this happens. The cat sits by the door, not coming anywhere further from the table, and it growls as Scott lifts it up and back onto the examination table.

"It's the worst," Stiles complains. "He might not even be staying."

"Then make him stay," Scott suggests, as if Stiles hasn't thought of that himself, and if it's really easy. 

"I'm trying. It's just... I don't know what more to do."

"Tell him how you feel," Scott suggests and Stiles snorts. "He likes you enough to sleep with you so he might be feeling the same."

Stiles snorts again, it's an unattractive thing to be doing, he knows that, Lydia has told him that, but he can't help it. Some things need to be snorted at.

"I can't tell him," Stiles says. "Not yet. We don't know each other that well, he doesn't know my past and I don't know his. He might have been married, for all I know."

"Then ask him."

Everything is easy in Scott's world. It's probably because he gets to pet animals for a living. That ought to mess with people's brains.

"I can't just ask him," Stiles complains.

"Then stop complaining to me," Scott says. Stiles pouts and Scott looks sorry for his mild outburst. "I just want you to be happy."

"I am," Stiles says. "I am happy with him. It's just... I wish I know where it was going."

"You can ask Derek that at least," Scott says. "It's not too much to ask for to know if he wants a more serious relationship."

"What if he does want a relationship and he still moves away? Then what do I do?"

"He might stay too, you know," Scott says. "What with Jackson's big master plan to hide the papers from him, he'll never get the house sold without those papers signed."

"That was rather clever of Jackson," Stiles agrees with a snicker. "Who would have known?"

"Jackson's a scheming jackass, he might be an ass but he's a smart ass."

"Smartass," Stiles snickers and Scott rolls his eyes.

They hear the outdoor open and the voices of Derek, Erica and Isaac reach them through the door.

"The kids are totally smitten too," Scott says and Stiles nods. "Boyd is worried Erica has forgotten about him."

"She wouldn't," Stiles says. "They're like you and Ally, the real deal."

Scott nods and smiles at the thought of his wife. Stiles wants that too, being together for a decade and still smile at the thought of the other. He thinks Derek could be his Allison.

Scott finishes his examination of the cat and carries it out to its cage. They then go to the kitchen where the others are. Derek just finishes some kind of joke because Isaac and Erica laugh and Derek looks so adorably pleased with himself. Stiles wants to walk up to him and kiss him but he feels unsure on whether or not Derek would want their relationship to be public. Derek smiles at him and Stiles feels his insides flutter, he doesn't care then that he can't kiss Derek because Derek smiles at him all secretive and cute and it's all that matters in that moment.

 

That night when they're left alone after dinner and all the animals have gotten their dinner, Stiles and Derek sit down on the couch in the living room.

"Can I kiss you?" Derek asks and it's such a cute and innocent question that Stiles has no choice but to straddle Derek's lap and kiss him senseless. Really, he doesn't have a choice.

"I take that as a yes," Derek says some ten minutes later when they break away for air.

"I don't even remember the question," Stiles chuckles into Derek's neck. "God, I love your smell."

He wasn't supposed to use the L-word but it happened and Derek doesn't throw him on the floor (in rage, not in passion), instead his hands tighten on Stiles' waist.

"I love your smell too," Derek admits and Stiles sighs happily into his neck.

"Look," he says and moves away from Derek after a few more minutes of silent sniffing and a few kisses. "We should probably talk about what this is, don't you think?"

Derek looks slightly nervous and sad, he doesn't look at Stiles at first and Stiles wants to know what he did wrong.

"I really like you," he says, almost pleads, because he wants Derek to look at him like he hung the moon again.

"I like you too," Derek admits and looks at Stiles again. There's something sad in his eyes this time though and Stiles wants to wipe all the sadness away. "But I get that this is just a rebound and I'm okay with that."

A rebound? Stiles frowns and then he understands. Derek is still hung up about someone else and Stiles is just his rebound. He looks at Derek and Derek takes his hand, rubs his thumb over Stiles' hand and Stiles _thinks screw it, if this is a rebound than I'm going to be the best freaking rebound to ever rebound._

"Okay," he says and Derek nods, he still look sad, probably hung up on his old boyfriend. Or maybe girlfriend. Stiles doesn't even know if he's bisexual or gay.

"Are you gay?" he asks because he has no brain to mouth filter.

Derek laughs, a bit surprised and smiles.

"I'm bisexual," he answers and Stiles nods.

"Me too," he replies.

"Okay."

"Okay," Stiles nods. "Can we go back to kissing?"

Derek laughs and pushes Stiles down onto his back on the couch, kissing him senseless once more.

 

Derek kind of moves into Stiles' room after that.  
"Tell me if you want space," he tells Stiles, who smiles at him and rolls his hips against Derek's.

"I never want space from you," he says and Derek smiles back and kisses him.

It's easy, living with Derek. Easier than it was living with Norma. Norma couldn't sleep and was up at odd hours and even though Stiles kept his door shut he could hear her walk around, talking to the animals and doing whatever it was she was doing in the middle of the night. Derek sleeps like the dead, preferably half on top of Stiles with his face mashed into Stiles' neck. Stiles can't say he minds. He can't say he minds at all.

The days Stiles has classes to teach Derek has dinner ready when he comes home and he always greets Stiles with a kiss. Once when Erica, Isaac and Boyd came with Stiles after school Stiles forgets himself and kisses Derek even though they're there. Derek doesn't seem to mind, his ears turn pink when Erica and Isaac catcall but he smiles at Stiles and squeezes his hand, letting Stiles know that they're okay.

The only person now that doesn't know about them is Stiles' father. While John is a kind man, he's also the sheriff of the county and he knows how to scare off Stiles' boyfriends or girlfriends. He knows Derek probably wouldn't be scared off by some choice words from the town's sheriff but he's still nervous about introducing the two.

The choice is taken out of his hands when he and Derek have a rather heated make out session in the kitchen and John comes in without knocking. No one has ever told him to knock before - no one ever knocks really - but Stiles wonders why when he, as subtle as possible - which means not subtle at all - pulls his hand from inside Derek's pants.

"I believe we haven't been introduced yet," John says and places his hands on his hips, right next to his sidearm, because of course he came straight from work and had his gun with him.

"I'm Derek," Derek says and though his cheeks are flushed he stretches out his hand for the sheriff to shake.  "Derek Hale."

John watches Derek's hand for just a moment too long - Stiles is going to _kill_ his dad! - before he shakes it.

"I'm John, Stiles' father."

"Good to meet you, sir," Derek says and Stiles feels proud that Derek calls his dad sir because that will melt the old man's heart, he's sure.

"Likewise," John says and Stiles rolls his eyes. "You must be Norma's nephew?"

Derek nods.

"The whole town has been talking about you."

Derek looks surprised at John's words.

"You must understand that it's a small town and every new citizen is very interesting."

Derek nods.

"I'm afraid I'm not used to small towns," he says and John nods back.

"It's nice though, everyone knows everyone and if someone's doing something out of line their neighbor sure has seen it. Makes police work easier."

John turns towards Stiles.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to make your old man some coffee?"

Stiles rolls his eyes but sets to work to make coffee while John and Derek continue to chat about the town. John even asks Derek if he's ever done anything illegal. Stiles turns around because he wants to hear the answer too.

"I once got a speeding ticket," Derek admits sheepishly and John laughs.

"Haven't we all."

"Don't lie, dad," Stiles says. "You've never driven above the allowed speed in your whole life."

"Maybe when I was young, stupid and only a deputy," John retaliates and Stiles rolls his eyes, not sure if his dad is lying or not.  He probably is.

"And now you're that responsible sheriff," Stiles snorts and John gives him a half-hearted glare.

"Of course I am, son," he says gravely and Stiles rolls his eyes.

Derek looks between them in amusement and Stiles smiles at him, earning one of Derek's dazzling smiles back at him.

Derek leaves them alone  after he's drank his coffee, claiming he's going to check on the animals.

"When were you planning on telling your old father that you've fallen in love?" John asks when the door has closed behind Derek.

"Shush," Stiles hushes his dad though he knows Derek can't hear them. Hopefully.

"No need to shush at me. From what I saw he looked quite smitten with you too."

Stiles can't help but smile slightly at that but he knows it's not true.

"We're just... having fun," Stiles says and John levels him with an even look. "And I might have some feelings for him but it's... it's complicated, okay?"

"Complicated? Why? He looked at you as if you hung the moon, Stiles, I don't-"

"But it is," Stiles protests. "And I can't talk with you about this. You're my dad."

John rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Why can't we talk about such things?"

"So then you want to talk about your date with Mrs. McCall, huh?"

John flushes and Stiles laughs.

"Thought so."

John laughs too and then they're interrupted by Scott who comes in through the door - without knocking because no one ever knocks.

"Hi, Mr. Stilinski," he greets, "I was just dropping by to check one of the dogs' eyes. Are they any better, Stiles?"

"Lots. No runny eyes anymore thanks to you."

"Where's Derek?"

"He's in the shelter, I'll come with you, are you coming too, dad?"

"Nah, I need to get going," John says and gets up. "Give my best to Derek and thanks for the coffee."

"You're welcome, sir."

Stiles salutes his dad and earns himself a smack at the back of the head before John leaves again.

"He caught me and Derek making out," Stiles tells his friend the moment his dad is gone.

"Aw, that sucks, man," Scott looks like he understands what it feels like and he probably does, he and Allison probably got caught a number of times when they were younger.

"Then he wanted to talk about Derek," Stiles shudders at the thought. It had been a rather uncomfortable discussion.

"I hate when that happens," Scott says and shudders too.

"I asked about his date with your mom instead," Stiles snickers, "that made him shut up at least."

"So you think the date went well? I haven't talked to mom about it."

"He was blushing at least," Stiles says and Scott snickers as they leave the kitchen to go to the shelter part of the house. Derek's let some of the cats out of their cages and is playing with them, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Stiles goes to join him while Scott goes to look on the dog.

"I'm sorry about my dad," Stiles says and watches as one of the cats chases the feathers on the stick around in a circle.

"Don't worry about it," Derek says. "My dad would have tried the same when we were kids."

Stiles wonders what's happened to Derek's dad now but before he can ask Derek continues.

"My parents died in a car crash when I was sixteen."

"I'm so sorry," Stiles says and leans his head against Derek's shoulder. "My mom died when I was thirteen. At the same time I was diagnosed with ADD so my dad had some really rough time for a while there before we found the right meds for me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Derek says and presses a kiss to Stiles' forehead. He then leans his head against Stiles' head and they sit like that in silence for a while until Scott comes back with the dog he's been examining.

"She's much better now," he says and Stiles nods as good as he can with his head under Derek's.

 

Derek's going into town to shop the next day but apparently his car doesn't start. He comes back inside, all frown-y eyebrows and disgruntled face, to tell Stiles this. Stiles is on the bed, grading papers but he's always up for Derek to interrupt him. At age twenty-seven he really ought to have better discipline than this, but then he's looking at Derek's bushy eyebrows and thinks screw discipline.

"Take my car," Stiles says and throws him the keys. "I can look at your car later, I'm busy right now."

"Okay," Derek nods. "See you later."

He steps inside only to give Stiles a kiss before he's gone again. It doesn't take long before he's back again.

"Your car has a stick," he informs Stiles rather darkly, as if Stiles wasn't aware of this.

"I know," Stiles says without looking up from his papers. This student is really stupid, he concedes as he reads the paper.

"I don't know how to drive a stick," Derek says and when Stiles looks up in surprise - he thought Derek knew manly stuff as driving a stick - Derek is glaring at the floor as it's the floor's fault Derek's never driven a stick before.

"I can show you," Stiles says before he remembers that he's busy. "Just let me finish grading these papers and we can go into town together."

Derek nods and with sigh sinks down behind Stiles on the bed. Stiles leans back against his chest and keeps grading the papers during silence for a while. Derek starts to play with Stiles' hair and to his surprise Stiles doesn't find it distracting but rather comforting and he's soon done with the papers.

"Okay, let's go. I'll teach you how to use the stick," Stiles grins at Derek and pulls him up from the bed. "Pun intended," he adds and Derek snorts at him. Somehow Derek's snorts aren't unsexy at all unlike Stiles'. But that might just be Stiles' infatuation talking.

Derek entangles their hands and they head out to the car. Derek hesitates but then sits down in the driver's seat when Stiles pushes him against it.

"It's not that hard, I promise," Stiles says and Derek rolls his eyes.

"You probably learnt to drive a stick when you were sixteen," he says and Stiles smiles.

"I did actually. When I got this car. It used to be my mom's."

"It's pretty," Derek says and Stiles beams at him.

"Okay, the clutch is to the left and the gas pedal to the right."

"I know where the gas pedal is, Stiles," Derek deadpans and Stiles shrugs.

"Anyway, you want to remove your foot slowly from the clutch at the same time as you give gas. Wait, I'm just going to get in the car."

He rushes around to the other side and sits down in the passenger seat. Derek tries and the car jumps and breaks down.

"Try again," Stiles supports him and at the fifth try Derek manages to get the car going. "Great! Now gear up."

Derek manages that too, the car jumps a bit but he manages to keep it going at least.

"Awesome!" Stiles cheers as Derek turns out onto the road that leads into town.

They go to the grocery store first and everyone seems to want to stop and talk to them, probably because of Derek, Stiles thinks as Mrs. O'Connell stops them to chat about the shelter.

"I hope you'll keep the shelter, dear," she says to Derek who looks really uncomfortable.

"How's the cat doing?" Stiles butts in so Derek won't have to answer to Mrs. O'Connell.

She goes into a long story about her cat, that she's gotten from the shelter, and Stiles rolls his eyes at Derek when the old lady is looking away.

After the grocery store they go to the bakery to get some bread. Just as in the grocery store a lot of people want to chat with Stiles and Stiles can't really turn them down without seeming like an ass so he has to stop and chat to them. Derek stands next to him and shuffles his feet, probably feeling uncomfortable as hell. Stiles pities him, he does, but he has no idea how to help him out.

"I'm sorry," he says once their back in the car - this time with Stiles behind the wheel. "I didn't know they would be on us like that."

"It's not your fault," Derek says and takes Stiles' hand in his. Stiles starts the car and looks over his shoulder as he backs out of the parking lot. If someone sees him they would probably wonder why he's grinning like a lunatic, but Derek's holding his hand and he can't wipe the grin off his face even if he tried.

 

Stiles realizes that he and Derek has somehow turned into that cute couple that no one can really stand being around, but every time he promises himself to keep his hands to himself he fails. All it takes is one look at Derek and he's there, with a hand on Derek's, an arm around his waist or just leaning slightly against the other man. The worst part of it all is that Stiles can't even find it in himself to feel bad about it. Scott has Allison and Lydia has Jackson so it's not as if he's rubbing his relationship status in anyone's single face. Quite unlike what Stiles has been put through with his two best friends through the years; Scott and Allison have dated since high school and Lydia and Jackson first dated in high school and then turned more serious in college after a series of breaking up and getting back together. Now they had been together for years and Stiles was happy for them, but he had felt his share of jealousy of why he couldn't find someone like his friends. But now he has Derek - even if it's only temporarily - and he's not going to ruin things with Derek just because he's developed feelings for the guy.

Sometimes Stiles thinks Derek's just as in love with Stiles as Stiles is with him - Derek will sometimes look at him when they are having sex or cooking or playing with cats and Stiles would be sure Derek felt the same way. Other times he catches Derek looking sad for no reason and he suspects Derek remembers his ex and misses him or her.

"Will you tell me about your ex?" Stiles asks one night in bed. They're both sweaty and breathing heavily after some amazing sex. It might not be the best talk to have right after sex but Stiles wants to know.

Derek sighs and is silent for so long that Stiles thinks he won't answer. He's just about to tell Derek that it doesn't matter when Derek opens his mouth.

"Her name was Jen. Jennifer. At first things were great and she was really nice. After a while though she started to hang out with this other girl, Kali. They grew really close really fast. Kali wasn't the nicest. At first she was nice to me but she was always complaining about other people. After a while Kali started to complain about me to Jen too. She would complain at Jen as if I wasn't even there."

"That's awful," Stiles says and wonders how anyone can find anything wrong with Derek. "What did Jen do? Did she kick her out?"

Derek snorts and Stiles shuffles closer.

"She didn't say anything. At first she was just quiet but then she started to complain about me too."

"That awful!" Stiles cries out again. "How could she? You're awesome."

"Thanks," Derek snorts but there's a small smile tugging on his lips. "Anyway, I broke up with her then and that's that."

Stiles nods and puts his head over Derek's chest. He can't believe Derek's still hung up over that girl but he gets that the heart wants what the heart wants. It's not always logical.

"Tell me about Norma," Derek says quietly then and Stiles tells him that Norma loved her animals more than anything. She would always make sure that the animals had food and were doing good, even going to the shelter when she had a fever and pneumonia.

"How did you meet?" Derek asks and Stiles sighs, he guesses he would have to tell Derek about it eventually.

"I did some stupid things when I just finished college, got into the wrong sort of friends. They were doing drugs and I was just going to try it once or twice and then I was stuck. After rehab I moved in with my dad but then I wanted my own place but didn't have any money to put into it. Dad talked to Norma and then I ended up living here. It wasn't supposed to be a permanent home but just until I had my own income."

Derek nods and kisses Stiles' forehead.

"Do you miss her?" he asks and Stiles shrugs.

"I guess. Sometimes I turn around and expect her to be there, like she used to, you know."

Derek nods.

"And I do things so she won't get mad, like, putting in the animals' food in the cupboards. She's gone so no one would care anymore but I still do it."

"I get that," Derek says. "I was the same when my parents passed away."

Stiles nods and leans in for a kiss.

"You help a lot though," he says and for a second thinks of kissing Norma. The thought makes him shudder.

"I'm glad," Derek replies and lets Stiles straddle him. "Very glad."

 

They get a call from a woman that there's a cat roaming around in her neighborhood.

"We get calls like this every now and then," Stiles explains as they ready the cage so they can, hopefully, capture the cat.  "Sometimes it's cats that have a family but they're just lost, but most of the time it's cats that has been abandoned so we have to take them in."

They drive to the woman's house and ask a few questions about the cat, what color it is (a tortoise) and if it has approached any humans (it has), before they set to go see if they can find it.

"It would be easier if we could find it now and take it in," Stiles sighs. "Otherwise we'll set out the cage and hope it'll walk into it. It's probably hungry now."

They don't find the cat but have to set up the cage and hope that the right cat will find the food and walk into the trap. Then they go back home again.

"It sucks that we can't do more," Derek sighs as they're on their way back home.

"Tell me about it," Stiles sighs back. "The worst thing is when we find animals too late and we're not able to save them. I remember two kittens a year ago or something like that, they were in such bad shape that we couldn't do anything but end their misery."

"That's sad," Derek says and takes Stiles' hand in his.  "I hope we'll find this cat and that she's okay."

"I do too."

Stiles smiles briefly at Derek before turning back to the road again.

"Right, I'd forgotten I promised to look at your car," Stiles said when they arrived at the house. "I can do that now. Is that okay?"

"Sure," Derek shrugs. "Are you going to change into a white tank top first?"

"Ha ha," Stiles replies drily. "Come on."

They get out of the car and Derek goes to fetch the key to his car. Stiles doesn't watch his ass when he walks up the stairs. He totally does, it's a nice ass so sue him.

Derek gets back and hands the keys to Stiles, who tries to start the car. It won't work.

"It's the battery," he tells Derek. "We'll just charge it and then it'll be as good as new."

"I don't know these things," Derek says as they head inside with the battery under Stiles' arm.  "I've never needed to, if things didn't work I just left the car at the shop."

"I wish I was that rich," Stiles says and notices how Derek's ears turn red. "I didn't mean..."

"Don't worry about it."

Stiles considers saying something else but stays quiet, not knowing what to say. They get inside and Stiles plugs in the battery charger and sets the battery on the floor by the wall in the kitchen.

"So how are you going to pay me for this?" Stiles asks and Derek's eyes darken slightly.

"I have a few ideas," he says and approaches Stiles.

"Oh, really?" Stiles asks as Derek pulls him in by his belt loops.

"Mhm," Derek hums and kisses Stiles.

The best payment ever.


	3. Chapter 3

Derek and Stiles go back to the cage some hours later and find a calico cat sitting there, looking murderous.

"Hello, sweetie," Stiles coos at her and opens the cage carefully to put her in a car cage instead. She lets him pull her out of the cage and put her in the new cage.

"She seems to be used to people, I hope we can find her a home soon, she seems really sweet."

Derek nods and carries the empty cage back to the car when a meowing stops him in his tracks. It doesn't come from the cage Stiles is carrying but from underneath the car. When he bends down to look he finds a brown tabby kitten underneath.  
"Stiles," he says and Stiles bends down to look too, when he's put the calico cat in the car.

"She has kittens," Stiles sighs, "Of course she has kittens. We'll have to put back the cage. Can you reach that kitty?"

Derek stretches his hand in under the car and the kitten comes up to sniff on his fingers and then he can easily grab it. He straightens again, the kitten to his chest and Stiles comes over to look at it.

"Looks about nine-ten weeks old. Good," Stiles says and takes the kitten from Derek's hands. He turns it over, checks the sex.

"Male," he says. "Wonder how many siblings it has. I'll go talk to Mrs. Letterman and see if she's seen any kittens around. You can set up the cage again, okay?"

"Sure," Derek nods and goes to work. Stiles puts the kitten with its mom, who licks its head, before he goes to Mrs. Letterman, the woman who first reported the calico cat. Derek sets up the cage with food and when he turns to walk back to the car he almost steps on another kitten. This one a tortoiseshell - a black and red one. Tortoiseshells - or calicos - are always females, Stiles has taught him. He grabs the kitten, this one seems less friendly than her brother and meows and tries to claw herself free from Derek's clutches. He quickly puts her with her mom and brother and waits for Stiles to come back.

"They've seen three kittens," Stiles says. "Two black and one tabby."

"I've found a tortoise," Derek says and points to the cage where the little family makes itself comfortable. They don't seem to care that they're no longer in freedom but seem comfortable in the cage.

"That's probably one she thought was black," Stiles says after looking at the cat. "It's got a lot of black on it. So another black kitten is what we're waiting for then. I told her to try to catch them if she saw them."

"Good," Derek nods and they get in the car again to go back home.

When they're home again they set up the new family in one of the empty cages in the shelter before checking mother cat if she has any identification tattoos or chip. She doesn't. They set her back with her kittens.

"I hope we'll find the last kitten," Stiles sighs as they leave the shelter and heads to the kitchen.

"Does it ever happen that you can't manage to catch cats?" Derek asks and Stiles nods.

"Sometimes."

They head for the living room and cuddle up together on the couch, Stiles with his legs over Derek's and Derek's arms around him.

"I like this," Stiles says quietly and Derek hums and presses a kiss to Stiles' forehead. "I like you."

"I like you too," Derek says, equally as quiet, wondering where the conversation is heading.

He knows they can't be anything more serious, knows it's too soon and he's only a rebound for Stiles, and Derek's mostly okay with it. Okay, he's not really okay with it, he'd love to be more for Stiles but he knows that's not possible, not now. Norma passed away only a bit more than a month ago and Derek can't blame Stiles for needing more time than that. He wishes they'd met under other circumstances, maybe later when Stiles had gotten over Norma.

"Good," Stiles says but he sounds sad and Derek bets it's because he's thinking about Norma.

"Don't think too much," Derek says and puts his fingers under Stiles' chin to raise his head so he can kiss him.

"You're awfully good at taking away thoughts," Stiles murmurs and Derek smiles against his lips.

 

They find the third and last kitten the next day when they drive out to the cage. It's a black male and he looks ashamed to have been caught, but seems happy when he's put with his mom and siblings later.

Scott comes by to check on the newcomers and deem them to be a bit thin but otherwise in good health.

"Shouldn't be a problem to get the kittens adopted when they've reach age," he tells Derek and Stiles over coffee.

"How often does people come here to look at the animals?" Derek asks, it's something that he's been  wondering for a while. Since he came here only one dog has been adopted and the shelter doesn't seem to make an effort to get word out that they exist.

"I don't know, maybe once a month."

"That's not often, is it?" Derek says and Stiles shrugs evadingly.

"What do you propose we do?" Scott asks and Derek shrugs.

"A website would be a good idea," he says because it's something he's been thinking about and he's been looking at other shelter's websites and it seems to be a good way to reach other than the local citizens.

"Then we need someone who knows how to run a webpage," Stiles says.

"Danny knows these things," Scott says and Stiles nods slowly.

"But he's busy with work and..."

"We could ask him. Once he's gotten it started it can't be too hard for you to learn, can it?"

"I guess not," Stiles says and looks a bit more into the idea. "It would be great to show others that we exist."

Derek nods and smiles. He places his hand on Stiles' shoulder and Stiles turns to smile at him as well.

"It could be awesome, actually," Stiles says, now he's turned rather excited at the prospect of the website. "We could have different bios for the animals."

Derek nods again and is overwhelmed by the want to kiss Stiles' smiling face. But Scott is there and it wouldn't be appropriate so he manages to contain himself. He does squeeze Stiles' shoulder though.

 

As soon as the next day Danny, yet another school mate from high school, comes over to help them with the website. Derek and Stiles watch him for a while but it soon gets boring to look over his shoulder and Danny seems to find them both annoying.

"Make me some coffee instead," Danny orders Stiles who pouts and doesn't make coffee at all. Derek sighs and goes to fix coffee for Danny.

He can hear the other two talking quietly but he doesn't listen in so he can't hear what they're saying.

"He's got a great ass though," he hears Danny say and wonders whom they're talking about. He hears Stiles snicker - forever a teenager at heart, that one - and listens to hear what Stiles replies. He kind of want Stiles not to think whoever they're talking about got a great ass, but that would be absurd of him to want to keep Stiles to himself. He does want to keep Stiles to himself, but he knows he can't. He's not allowed to be the only person whose ass Stiles likes.

"He does, doesn't he?" Stiles snickers and look over his shoulder at Derek. Derek wonders if maybe they're looking at some picture of some guy on the computer, he can't see the screen because Stiles is in the way. Stiles winks at him and smiles and Derek can't help but smile back. He's so smitten, he can't help it. It's embarrassing how quickly he's fallen for Stiles, he should have been more careful when they started this thing. He knows they won't ever be serious so how could he be so stupid and fall for the guy?

He carries the coffee mugs over to the table.

"You want some, too?" he asks Stiles, a hand placed on his shoulder because he just feel the need to touch the other man whenever close enough.

"Yeah, sure."

Danny looks at him as if he's grown a second head and then he looks as if he's understanding something.

"You're sleeping with him?" he hisses at Stiles, but not low enough for Derek not to overhear. Derek pretends to prepare the coffee while he listens intently to Stiles' answer. For a moment he's afraid that Stiles will deny it.

"Yeah," Stiles answers and Derek knows he's smiling smugly.

"Good for you," Danny says. "It's been too long for you."

Derek thinks that's an odd thing to say, it wasn't long since aunt Norma passed away.

"I know, right?" Stiles says though and smiles.

"So this is the front page," Danny says and Stiles leans closer as Derek walks over with the coffee.

It's neat and with a white background and black text.

"You should put up some photos here and then have photos of each animal under their bio."

Stiles nods and checks through his phone.

"I have this really cute picture of Oliver," he says and shows Derek the picture of Oliver running in red and yellow leaves. It's quite a beautiful photo.

"We'll add it to the front page right away," Danny says and Stiles hands over his phone to Danny to connect it to the computer so he can transfer the picture to the computer.

The picture of Oliver is a great picture to have on the front page. As if knowing he's on the front page on the website, Oliver comes up to Derek and rubs his body along Derek's legs.

"Hey," Derek says and picks up the cat. Oliver rubs his head along Derek's beard and purrs loudly.

"I never thought Oliver would ever be that fond of anyone. Norma always said that there was a cat for everybody, that no cat hated all people. Oliver did quite a good job before you came along to show us he didn't need humans."

Derek preens a bit at that, glad that Oliver seem to like him just as much as Derek likes the red cat. Oliver purrs and climbs up on Derek's shoulder, as if he understands what they're talking about and wants to show just how much he likes Derek.

"That cat is crazy," Stiles laughs and pets Oliver.

Derek sits down on the kitchen bench with Oliver still in his arms and drinks his coffee as Stiles and Danny discuss the website on the other side of the table. Derek looks at Stiles who drags his fingers through his hair every now and then and every now and then he adjusts his glasses. Derek wonders how he could fall for someone so quickly, they've barely known each other for a few weeks and Derek imagines himself spending the rest of his life with Stiles. He knows that won't happen, but it's a nice thought.

When the website is finally up and running, Danny goes home, declining staying for dinner. Stiles pulls Derek into a hug and squeezes his ass through his jeans.

"I can't believe we have a webpage," he sighs and kisses the side of Derek's neck where he's resting his head.

"No, it's quite extraordinary," Derek agrees and Stiles laughs against Derek's neck, puffs of warm breath tickling Derek's skin.

"You're amazing, you know that, right?" Stiles says and Derek snorts. "No, seriously, you are!"

Why won't you love me then? Derek wants to ask but he stays quiet and kisses Stiles instead. It's easier to kiss than to talk. Kissing is something they can do.

They kiss for a long time before they get started on the dinner. Every now and then they get distracted by the other and stop and kiss for a long time. Derek feels like he's a teenager again and has his first crush. Only this time it feels much more than it did with Paige when he was sixteen. He wonders if he'll ever get over Stiles. Watching as Stiles measures the pasta, Derek thinks that no, he'll never be over Stiles.

 

The kittens they found have already had people to look at them after they set up the webpage and the tortoise female is decided to be adopted by a family when she has turned twelve weeks old.

"Promise you'll get her fixed when she's ready," Stiles tells the family, who nods. They already have a dog from the shelter and Stiles doesn't seem too worried about letting little Leia go. People have been to look at her brothers but no one has decided to adopt them yet.

"Kittens are usually easier to get adopted," Stiles says as they're readying the food for the animals. "We mostly get grown-up cats and dogs though, sadly."

Derek gets the food the cats who are all meowing at him to give them food now. They're all really cute and if Derek could he thinks he'd want to keep them all.

 

 

Derek is out running with the dogs when he suddenly hears crying from a baby. At first he thinks it's someone else in the tracks, he's met other people every now and then. As he comes closer to the baby he realizes that it's not a baby with its mom or dad but there's a baby lying right there in the tracks, tightly tucked into a blanket. Someone has made sure it won't freeze, it seems. Derek stops in front of the baby and picks it up carefully from the ground. He looks at the baby, it's small, but he can't tell how old it is, he's not used to babies. He looks around, he doesn't know what he's expecting, maybe to see someone sneak off, but there's nothing. He holds the baby to his chest, making shushing noises and turn back to head home. He doesn't know what to do with the baby, but he does know that he needs to get the dogs home first.

He walks slowly thanks to the baby, who at least seem to find comfort in his steps and stops crying after a while of walking. The dogs seem to be interested in the new creature Derek is carrying and tries to sniff the baby as they walk.

"Behave," Derek orders them and they kind of obey.

When he gets back home - and when did he start thinking of aunt Norma's house as home? - he puts the dogs in their respective cages before he goes to the kitchen with the baby. Not knowing where to put it he lays it down on the table, keeping one hand on its belly as he calls the sheriff's office.

"Beacon Hills county Sheriff's office, this is Deputy Parrish."

"Hi, my name is Derek Hale and... well, I've found a baby."

"You've found a baby, huh?" The police officer on the other end says and by the laughter in his voice Derek can tell that the deputy doesn't believe him.

"Yeah, it's..."

As if on cue, the baby starts to wail again.

"Hang on," Derek says to the man on the other side of the line and puts down his phone as he picks up the baby. "There, there, I'm here, shush..."

He bumps the baby and the wailing stops again. He picks up the phone, cradling it between his shoulder and cheek while still holding the baby.

"Hello?" he says.

"You're serious," the deputy says and Derek rolls his eyes. "You've found a baby?"

"Yeah, in the tracks down by the-"

"You found it outside?"

"Yeah, I-"

"You should take it to the hospital," the deputy says. "Can you do that?"

"Sure," Derek nods. "I don't have a baby seat in my car but I guess I can drive there really carefully..."

"Good. I'll meet you at the hospital, is that okay?"

"Yeah."

"What's your name and cell phone number?"

Derek gives his name and number before hanging up.  
"I guess it's just you and me, kiddo," he says and gets his car keys. He considers placing the kid in the backseat or maybe in the passenger seat but at last he sets it in his lap and drives with one arm around it. He's probably never driven as carefully as he does now. When he arrives at the local hospital there's a sheriff's cruiser parked next to the entrance to the emergency ward and the deputy steps out when Derek approaches. From the driver's side the sheriff himself steps out and greets Derek.

"I heard you'd found a baby," he says and Derek nods.

"Found it in the tracks when I was out walking some of the dogs."

"Had someone just abandoned it?" the deputy questions as they walk inside the hospital.

"You two wait here," John says, "I'll go talk to the nurses."

John disappears and Derek can see him talk to a dark-haired nurse by the front desk. She smiles when he approaches but then frowns as the sheriff points to Derek and the deputy. The nurse walks over along with the sheriff.

"Hi, I'm Melissa," she introduces herself. "You found a baby outside?"

Derek nods and Melissa asks if she can take the baby. He hands over the baby, who starts crying again when it leaves Derek's arms.

"Come on, let's go examine it," she says and Derek, John and the deputy follows her.

"You can go home if you want to," the sheriff tells Derek but Derek shakes his head.

"I want to make sure that the baby is okay first."

The sheriff looks pleased with this answer and they walk into an examination room where Melissa examines the baby.

"It's a girl," she says and prods the baby. "She's about two months old by the looks of it. The doctor will have to check on her but she looks to be in excellent condition. Lucky you found her so quickly, Derek."

Derek nods and wonders how the nurse knows his name, but doesn't have time to ask about it. They get to go back to the waiting room with the baby back in Derek's arms again. The sheriff had offered to take her but Derek shook his head and cradled the baby to his chest.

"What will happen to her now?" he asks the sheriff as they wait.

"We'll call social services and they will take care of her."

A woman from the social services office comes when they're waiting for the doctor.

"Hi, I'm Janet," she introduces herself.

They talk for a while she asks about the baby, where Derek found it and asks if there are any clues on the baby's clothes to where it came from.

"None," John answers her question.

"We have a hard time finding someone to take her in right away, it may take a few days..." Janet says with a worried frown.

Afraid that the baby is going to be left without anyone again, Derek opens his mouth.

"I can take her," he says without thinking things through first.

"Do you have experience with babies?" Janet asks and Derek shakes his head.

What happens next is probably not the standard procedure because  in the end the baby gets to stay with Derek. It probably has something to do with the fact that he knows the sheriff, he doubts anyone would just get to watch over a baby until they can find someone to adopt it.

The hospital has plenty of things to offer, things parents have bought and then left there when their baby didn't make it. Derek gets a car seat and a baby carrier along with some clothes and some diapers.

"These should last for a few days at least," Melissa tells him. "You can call if you wonder anything or need any help or anything, okay?"

Derek nods and accepts the things. They put the baby in the car seat and carry everything out to Derek's car.

"Stiles will be thrilled that there's going to be a baby in the house," John laughs as he puts the car seat in place.

"Why? He likes kids?"

"Loves them," the sheriff nods. "He just hasn't found the right person to have them with yet."

The sheriff gives him an odd look that Derek can't decipher. He wonders if John never liked Norma, maybe he thought she was too old for Stiles? Norma was probably too old to have babies anyway.

Derek goes home with the baby after clear instructions from the sheriff that Derek can call whenever if there are any problems. John then promises to drop by with Stiles' old crib and a stroller that deputy Parrish lends them, as his sister no longer needs it for her kids.

The baby falls asleep in the car and doesn't wake up when Derek carries her inside. Derek thinks of calling her something other than the baby, but doesn't know if he's allowed to do so.

 

When Stiles comes home a couple hours later the baby has been sleeping for all that time. As predicted by the sheriff, Stiles is thrilled by the baby. He prods at her where she's sleeping and his smile can crack his face in two.

"Why is she sleeping?" he asks and Derek sighs.

"She's a baby, they sleep a lot."

"Can we wake her up?"

"She'll wake up soon enough. Your dad is coming over with your old crib and a stroller."

"I know, he called. Why do you think I'm so unsurprised by the fact that there's a baby in our living room?"

"He warned you," Derek realizes and is a bit thrilled himself that Stiles said _our_ living room. He tries not to think that Stiles probably meant his and Norma's and not his and Derek's.

"He warned me."

The baby wakes up then, she rubs her chubby hands on her face and blinks slowly at them.

"Aww," Stiles coos, "She's adorable. What should we call her? We can't just call her the baby or her, can we?"

"Are we allowed to name her?"

"Yeah, a name just for us is okay, don't you think?"

Derek nods and looks at the baby with her dark tuft of hair and blue eyes. Derek wonders what eye color she will grow up to have.

"What do you think about Maya?" Derek asks, because he's been thinking and that's a name he really likes.

"Maya," Stiles says with a smile on his lips. He then nods. "I like it."

"Maya it is then," Derek nods.

"I can't believe you found a baby in the woods."

"It's crazy, right?"

Stiles nods and takes Maya's small hand in his large one.

"How could anyone give up you?" he wonders aloud.

They stay on the floor with Maya until the sheriff arrives with the crib and the stroller as promised. After they had assembled the crib they make dinner together, Derek with Maya in the baby carrier he'd gotten at the hospital. As soon as he tried to put her down she started crying and this was the only way. Not that he minds having her close, she's gorgeous.

 

They set up the crib next to their bed - Stiles' bed - and Maya sleeps until three o'clock when she wakes up wailing. Derek gives her a bottle and walks with her in the kitchen until she falls asleep again. Being abandoned doesn't seem to have affected her too badly.

When Derek wakes up the next morning Maya is lying next to him in between him and Stiles and he watches for a while as Stiles plays with her hands and feet until he notices that Derek's watching him. He blushes and gives a sheepish smile but Derek understands him, Maya's hands and feet are so tiny and cute.

They stay in bed for a while, just watching Maya sleep and smile at each other. After a while Stiles' stomach growls and they head for the kitchen after building walls of pillows around Maya.

"I hope she won't be able to climb over," Stiles says and Derek snorts.

"She can't even turn over yet, don't worry."

Derek goes to check on her at least three times while they are making breakfast.


	4. Chapter 4

Stiles is in hell. He's in actual hell. Derek is lying asleep on the couch with Maya on his chest. Maya is sleeping just as deeply as Derek. Stiles moans quietly. Couldn't Derek just hate kids instead? Did he have to love them and take in an abandon baby on top of it? He watches as Derek's eyelids flutter and then those multicolored eyes open and fix on Stiles.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Stiles whispers even though Maya could probably sleep through a nuclear war.

"Didn't mean to fall asleep," Derek says, his voice rough with sleep. He stretches one of his arms, the other is securely placed on Maya's back and has been since Stiles found them.

"You two were so pretty sleeping," Stiles says and walks into the room. He kneels next to Derek's head by the couch and smiles down at Derek.

"I'm not pretty, I'm manly," Derek says. His voice is even but his eyes sparkle, letting Stiles knows he's joking and finds himself hilarious.

"Sure you are," Stiles nods and leans in to kiss Derek. The kiss turns deeper and Stiles sighs into it. "God, I love... your kisses."

He almost said the L-word. Well, he did say the L-word but he almost said that he loves Derek. Which he does, but Derek is still hung up about his ex and they have only known each other for barely a month. It's too soon to use the L-word even in a relationship that's an actual relationship and Stiles knows everything would be ruined if he did say it in this dysfunctional, rebound relationship.

"I love your kisses too," Derek says and Stiles wishes he could've said that he loved Stiles. But he doesn't. At least not like that. Maybe as friends some day. Or maybe Derek will fall in love with Stiles if he stays here? And what? They raise a kid together? That's not going to happen. Stiles is not delusional. Or maybe he is. Because he wants that so bad. He wants Derek to stay, to never leave, and he wants Maya to stay as well. He wants them to raise Maya like their own and never think about the past, about Derek's ex-girlfriend and about all the lonely years Stiles had before Derek came along. That's what Stiles wishes for so yeah, Stiles is delusional because that will never happen, no matter how hard he wishes for it.

It's weird to suddenly be a parent - because no matter how hard Stiles tries he can't come up with any other word for it; he and Derek are parents, however briefly it might be. Maya wakes up at odd hours in the night, wanting food or cuddles and sometimes they have no idea what she wants, she just screams for what feels like hours. It's also not weird, it feels natural to wake up at odd hours saying "I'll take it," or "you take it"; it feels natural to feed and change on Maya and play with her, though she's too small to really understand playing yet; worst is, it feels natural to have Derek by his side when they do it. They act like a couple raising a kid together and it effects Stiles, makes him think that it could work.

One day a social service woman called Janet stands outside their door. They immediately know something is up because the only people who usually comes by the house never knocks, so they know something is up when there's a knocking on the door. Stiles goes to answer it, leaving Derek feeding Maya in the kitchen.

"Can I help you?" Stiles asks.

She smiles at him.

"Hi, I'm Janet. I'm from the social services office."

"Hi, I'm Stiles," Stiles says and thinks that she's come to take their baby away. And he's already thinking of Maya as theirs...

"Can I come in?" she asks and Stiles nods and lets her inside. She smiles at him and Derek comes out from the kitchen, carrying Maya who's eating happily from the bottle.

"Hi, Derek," she smiles. She's all smiles and Stiles wants her to stop smiling so much.

"Hi." Derek looks a bit paler and he squeezes Maya a bit.

"I just dropped by to see how things were going," Janet says as if she senses Stiles' unease at her visit, as if she knows he's afraid she'll take the baby away.

"Things are going great," Stiles says, voice maybe a bit louder than normal, as if he's trying to convince her by his voice alone. "She eats and sleeps and poops. Just like a baby."

Janet laughs politely.

"Can we sit down?" she asks and Stiles knows why she's asking this.

They go into the kitchen and Stiles and Derek sit down on the bench, Maya safe in Derek's arms. Stiles places a hand on Derek's arm, trying to calm Derek down, because Derek looks just as upset as Stiles feels. Derek relaxes somewhat under Stiles' touch.

"I have yet to find someone who can take care of her," Janet says and Stiles feels Derek relax under his hand. Stiles sighs with relief and Janet gives him an odd look. Stiles can't explain that he thought she would take Maya away from them, because Maya isn't theirs to begin with. Janet talks some more and both Stiles and Derek assures her that Maya can stay with them, that it's no problem at all. They don't say that they _want_ her to stay but maybe Janet understands that anyway. She seems to be a clever woman.

She leaves shortly after that and Derek sighs with relief. Stiles turns to him.

"I was afraid she'd come to take Maya away from us."

"Yeah, me too," Derek kisses Maya's forehead and hands her over to Stiles when he tugs at her dress.

"I know she's not ours, I mean that would be crazy but..."

"Yeah, me too," Derek says and he looks straight at Stiles, as if he understands _everything_ Stiles is feeling and as if he feels the same way. He doesn't, but for a moment Stiles almost loses his breath because it feels like Derek is looking at him with such love and adoration.

"It's going to be alright," Derek says and hugs Stiles and Maya. He places a kiss on Maya's forehead and then on Stiles' cheek. For some reason it feels like Derek is trying to convince himself more than Stiles.

 

"We should have an open house," Derek suggests when they are out walking dogs the next day. Stiles has three dogs in their leashes while Derek has two and pushing Maya's stroller. Maya is sound asleep and burrowed deep in her blankets. The dogs stop every now and then to sniff a leaf or something. Tyler, Dylan and Molly are all walking without their leashes and Molly barks on anyone of Derek's dogs who tries to step out of line. She's a good dog like that.

"An open house?" Stiles asks.

"For the shelter," Derek explains. "I think it would be good for it, people could come by and not feel obligated to adopt, but just look and maybe they'll find someone to take home."

Stiles nods, "That's a good idea."

Derek gives him a small smile.  
"I've been thinking about it for a while and maybe we could have open houses more regularly in the future?"

"That would be awesome!" Stiles says. He doesn't say anything about the fact that Derek is talking about the shelter as if he's going to stay there, as if he won't sell the house and move back to New York. Stiles wonders though if it was just a slip from Derek's side, maybe he isn't thinking of staying at all. He really wishes he knew what was going on in Derek's head sometimes.

But an open house sounded like a good idea, even if Derek would only stay around for one.

 

Preparing for an open house is more work than Stiles would have imagined. They clean the house and the shelter and wash the dogs and some of the cats. When the day for the open house is there, a sunny Saturday in late November, Stiles barely recognizes the shelter part of the house; it's so clean and tidy. Stiles is in the shelter along with Erica and Boyd while Derek and Isaac is serving coffee and tea in the kitchen.

"-and he had a baby in a baby carrier!" Stiles overhears one woman whisper to her friend and he bets they had just seen Derek with Maya. Derek often walks around with her like that and has no idea how it effects the people around him. Erica snickers next to Stiles and Stiles elbows her.

"What? You're the one preening because you get to sleep with him," Erica says and Stiles blushes.

"Shut up," he mutters and Erica snickers again before she approaches the women.

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" she asks them sweetly - her smile turned into a kind, helpful one instead of the devilish smile she had directed at Stiles earlier.

"Mona here is looking for a cat," one of the women says. "Because she's tired of men."

"Unless that guy in the kitchen with the baby is up for adoption?" Mona says and Stiles chokes on air. A kind gentleman hurries forward and prepares to do the Heimlich maneuver on Stiles, but Stiles bats him away.  
"I'm fine," he hurries to say. "Thank you though."

The man smiles but looks a bit worried. Stiles gives him a reassuring smile and the man walks back to his family who smiles and says he did well. Whatever it was he actually did.

"Stiles would probably not put Derek up for adoption, I'm sorry," Stiles hears Erica tell the women in the same voice she would have told them a particular cat or dog isn't up for adoption.

"Erica!" Stiles says, a bit panicked, and hurries up to the women. "Don't listen to her, she is just about to go clean the cats' litter boxes."

"But-"

"Now," Stiles orders.

Erica huffs but disappears.

"We have many cats, if you want to take a look."

"I'd love to," Mona smiles at him and when Stiles turns his back on them to lead them to the part of the shelter where they have the cats, Stiles is sure they're elbowing each other and whisper about him. Well, well. He hopes they only say nice things.

"We have Achilles here," Stiles introduces a grey cat that look up at them from where he's sleeping. "He's about three years old and came here when his old owner died."

"Oh, he's adorable," Mona says when Achilles come up to the front of the cage and purrs.

"Maybe you should look at all the cats before you make up your mind," her friend interjects. They go through all the cats, but Stiles notices that Mona keeps glancing back at Achilles. Not even the kittens can take Mona's attention away from Achilles for that long. Stiles is pretty sure Achilles soon will have a new home and smiles at that.

When the last visitor has left they all gather in the kitchen to talk about the day. Stiles takes Maya away from Derek as soon as possible and cuddles with her. Lydia, who arrived with Jackson just half an hour before they were closing, gives him an odd look.

"What?" Stiles says and Lydia then smiles.

"Nothing," she says but Stiles is sure it's something.

"Can I take her?" Allison asks and Stiles hands over Maya with a sigh. "You will get her back soon, I promise."

Everyone else seems to be just as in love with Maya as Stiles is and he's happy to see that none of his friends seem to have abandoned him just because he suddenly has a baby. Not that he thought they would, but he has heard that has happened to others. After Allison has held Maya for a while she passes the baby on to Scott instead of Stiles. Scott gives Stiles a broad grin and Stiles mock-glares at him. A few minutes later Maya starts crying and then Scott quickly hands her over to Stiles with a slightly terrified look on his face. Stiles gladly accepts Maya who grabs at his face as she cries.

"Hey, hey," Stiles says in a low voice to her. "No need to cry, papa Derek is fixing your bottle."

Stiles could have bitten his tongue, why did he suddenly call Derek papa? It's weird enough that they have a kid together.

"Papa Derek?" Scott questions with a twist of his eyebrows.

"He's papa and I'm daddy," Stiles says and feigns indifference, as if he calls Derek papa all the time.

"Really?" Allison says and looks delighted. "That's so sweet!"

"We are, aren't we?" Stiles says and turns Maya around so she faces the others. He pushes his cheek against the baby's and smiles at their 'audience'.

"Here," Derek says and hands the bottle to Stiles. He doesn't say anything about being called papa. At least not now when they are among their friends. Stiles wonders if he will say anything later when they are alone. Hopefully not - Stiles is just as scared of conflicts as the next guy.

When Maya's been fed it's Jackson's turn to hold her. He holds her a bit like she's a football. Stiles laughs and corrects his grip so it's more like he holds an actual baby and not toxic waste.

"Better?" Jackson says and Stiles nods. He's surprised that there is something almost tender over Jackson's expression. As if Jackson actually had a heart. Who would have known?

Later in the night after Maya's been put to sleep Stiles and Lydia go to check on the animals one last time before the night. Lydia volunteered so Stiles knows she's up to something.

"Papa Derek, huh?" She says and ignores his suggestion that she can check on the dogs while he checks the cats.

"It was just my stupid lack of brain to mouth filter," Stiles replies and checks so all the cats are alive in their cages.

"Mhm," Lydia says knowingly. She knows all about Stiles and Derek's relationship and how it's only a rebound for Derek and even if Stiles might not have said anything to her about his feelings, she knows about those too, she's clever.

"Maya will be gone one day, you know that, right?"

Stiles rubs his forehead and feels tears welling up in his eyes. Doesn't he know it.

"I know."

Lydia clicks her tongue and doesn't say anything.

"I think Derek has feelings for you, too, though," she says after a while of silence in which Stiles checks on the dogs.

"Yeah, right," Stiles sighs.

"I'm serious, Stiles, I think he does. He might not be in love with you but he feels _something_ for you, I know that. Anyone who's got eyes can see that."

Stiles sighs and rubs his forehead again, feeling a headache coming on.

"I wish it was so but we've talked about it and he's still hung up on his ex."

"When?"

"What?"

Lydia rolls her eyes, "When did you talk about it? When you started this?"

Stiles nods.

"That was more than a month ago, Stiles. Lots can happen in a month."

"Look, Lyds, I know you only want to help but he doesn't have any kind of feelings for me except friendship. And I'm okay with that."

"Are you?"

"No," Stiles replies truthfully. Lydia gives him a pitying look and hugs him.

"You should talk to him again," she says and Stiles sighes. He's been doing that a lot lately.

They finish their check-up and is just about to open the door back to the kitchen when Lydia opens her mouth again,

"What are you doing about Maya then?"

Stiles feels tears in his eyes again and turns to look at her.

"What can I do? She will be adopted and..."

"You can adopt her," Lydia suggests.

"Alone?"

"Yeah. Or with Derek," she shrugs.

"Derek's leaving."

"Is he? He hasn't nagged Jackson about those papers in ages."

"He'll soon grow tired of me and then he'll leave, I know he will."

"But-"

"Just drop it, Lydia."

Lydia opens her mouth but closes it again without saying anything. Stiles nods at her and then opens the door to the kitchen. The others are talking and laughing and no one really notices them coming back. Except for Derek. Stiles sinks down into his seat next to Derek. Derek turns to look at him and places a hand on his thigh.

"You okay?" he whispers, probably noticing Stiles' red eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just talked about some sad animal cases," he lies. It's not as if he hasn't talked about animals that have died in his care and cried before.

Derek squeezes his leg and nods but doesn't look convinced.

The others stay for another few hours before they head home.  Stiles and Derek clean up a bit in the kitchen before they head to bed. Stiles is so tired he's almost cross-eyed, he realizes now what a toll it's been taking on him to plan and prepare for the open house. Derek seems pretty tired as well. They undress quietly and then cuddle up under the blankets.

"I'm too tired for sex," Stiles moans, quietly so not to wake Maya who sleeps next to their bed.

"Me too," Derek whispers against his neck, and presses small kisses there. "You did good today though. Lots of people where interested in adopting."

"That's awesome!"

They lie in silence for a while and then Stiles thinks of the woman who wanted to adopt Derek and starts to snicker to himself.  
"What?" Derek asks and Stiles controls his laughter.

"Did Erica tell you that a woman wanted to adopt you?"

Derek snorts.

"Yeah, she did. Said you wouldn't allow it though."

"Yeah," Stiles hums and wonders what to say next that doesn't sound like he wants to keep Derek to himself forever.

"I'm glad," Derek sighs and Stiles nods.

Despite being tired he lies awake long after Derek has fallen asleep, wondering what Derek meant. If he meant that he's glad that Stiles wouldn't let someone adopt him or if he was glad that Stiles wanted to keep him. No matter how much he thinks about it he can't figure out the answer. When Maya wakes up for a night-time bottle, Stiles has just fallen asleep and he groggily picks the baby up and walks to the kitchen with her, hoping Derek didn't wake up.

He warms the bottle while bumping the baby in his arms.

"Daddy Stiles is confused," he tells Maya quietly. "Daddy Stiles loves Papa Derek and doesn't know what to do."

Maya gives a more vicious scream and Stiles shushes at her.

"Shh, it's okay, daddy Stiles will figure it out. Don't worry."

Maya seems to calm down again and Stiles gives her the bottle which she happily suckles from.  When she's done with the bottle Stiles carries her back to bed and tucks her in. She's almost fallen asleep again by the time he leaves her. He burrows in next to Derek's warmth again, smiling when Derek tugs him closer in his sleep.

 

All the kittens they found get adopted when they are twelve weeks old and the mother cat soon finds a home as well. November turns to December and snow starts to fall.

"I hope we'll have a white Christmas," Stiles muses as they sit inside on the couch in the living room. Stiles is grading papers while Derek is on the floor with some cats that he has let out of their cages and into the house.

"Mm," Derek hums in agreement and doesn't look up as he makes one of the cats do an extraordinary jump to try and catch the feathered stick Derek has in his hand. They laugh at the cat and Derek lets it catch the stick for a moment before he pulls it away.

"Mean," Stiles comments. The cat seems to think so too and attacks the stick with a new-found vigor.

Derek doesn't say anything about Christmas and Stiles doesn't know how to breech the subject of whether Derek is staying in Beacon Hills for Christmas or not. Stiles wonders if he can leave Maya with Stiles or if he plans to take her with him if he goes to New York over the holidays. Derek is the one who has custody of Maya and if he wants to take her, he can. Or maybe he can't leave the state with her? Stiles has no idea how those things work actually.

 

 

Thanksgiving is a busy affair with all of their friends coming over. Stiles and Derek spend most of the day in the kitchen preparing the food and trying to keep Maya happy. Stiles is exhausted when the guests finally arrive but at that point it's only to start being nice and polite. He serves them hot cider and talks to Lydia for a long while about Stiles' job at the school. They also talk about the shelter and what will happen if Derek decides on selling.

"I guess we can try someplace in town instead," Stiles says but he doubts it. Right now it feels as if the shelter won't survive because Norma didn't. It's a lousy feeling. All Stiles wants is for Derek to say that he will not sell the house and that he will keep running the shelter as it has been run for years.

"It will work out," Lydia says and Stiles hopes she is right. "Both for the shelter and for you."

"For me?" Stiles asks, pretending that he doesn't know what she's talking about.

"I see the way you look at him, you know," she says. "It's quite sickening really. You never looked at me that way."

"I did too," Stiles protests because he was in love with Lydia for years.

"No, you didn't. Maybe the adoration but you just wanted me for my looks."

"That's not true."

"You didn't know me, how could you want me for anything else?"

Stiles can't argue with that, not really.  He tries anyway, even if he knows Lydia will win the argument in the end.

"I knew you were brilliant, even then."

Lydia snorts and Stiles wants to tell her it's unsexy but Lydia can't do anything unsexy - it's just not in her nature.

"You knew I was smart and thought I was pretty, does that sound like enough material to build a relationship on?"

"Not really, no," Stiles has to agree with her. She smiles and the argument is lost for Stiles. She slinks off to talk to Allison and Stiles goes up to Derek.

"How are you holding up?" he asks. Derek smiles.

"Your dad is nice," he says, "He only threatened me once."

Stiles laughs, not sure if it's a joke or not.

"I'm glad," he answers and he is - for some reason the fact that Derek and his dad getting along makes his insides churn in a not so unpleasant way.

"Me too," Derek smiles down at his glass and it's so beautiful Stiles wants to kiss him, but he manages to contain himself.

 

After all the guests have gone home Derek crowds Stiles against the door and kisses him filthily. He presses his thigh in between Stiles' legs and Stiles is not late to get on board that plane. He fists his hands in Derek's hair and presses open-mouthed kisses his neck as Derek works his hands around Stiles and under his ass. Stiles wraps his legs around Derek's waist as Derek pushes him higher up the wall.

"Fuck," Stiles pants. He's dreamt of having someone push him up a wall like this but never actually had it happen to him. Of course Derek is strong enough to hold him there.

"Yeah," Derek mutters and kisses Stiles' neck and hikes him higher up. Derek's cock presses against Stiles' ass and wouldn't it be great to be fucked like this? There's no way Derek could hold him there all the time though, is there? Derek rips off Stiles' shirt and presses biting kisses to his upper torso, anywhere he can reach really. It's awesome. Stiles groans and arches his back, almost making Derek lose his balance but Derek manages to catch them both and then continues to lick on Stiles' nipple. Derek's awesome like that.

Derek gets off his own shirt and then his pants so that he stands there naked. Stiles is way too overdressed and manages to get down from Derek's hips to pull off his own pants.

"Good idea," Derek nods and instead of pulling Stiles close and push him up against the wall he gets down on his knees and pulls Stiles' cock into his mouth. Despite his initial disappointment, Stiles can get behind that idea too. Derek sucks and licks on his cock as if it's a lollipop and he's never tasted anything better. Stiles loves him, he realizes. Fuck.

"Yeah," he mutters instead of 'I love you'. He fists his hands in Derek's hair, caresses his cheeks and Derek lets him feel the tip of his own cock through the flesh of his cheek. It's arousing as hell.

Derek frees his cock and Stiles is about to weep but then Derek mouths at his balls instead and that's good too.

"Can I rim you?" Derek asks from his position on his knees on the floor and Stiles nods and wonders how. "Turn around." Derek's voice is rougher than usual and it's sexy as hell. Stiles scrabbles to turn around, almost kneeing Derek in the face in his rush. Derek laughs throatily and Stiles can't help but laugh a bit too, his laughter gets stuck in his throat though when Derek spreads his cheeks and licks a long line against his ass.

"Oh," Stiles moans and Derek does it again, and again, and again. He does it until Stiles is a quivering, sweaty, moaning mess. He's so close and he hasn't touched his cock in ages.

"Fuck, Derek, I'm so close."

"Come on then, come,"  Derek's mouth leaves Stiles' ass just long enough to say those words and then he's pushing his tongue inside Stiles again.

"No, I don't," Stiles sobs, "I want to ride you, I want to come on your cock."

"You're not ready, Stiles, you're too tight."

"Fuck you," Stiles says and turns around - or else he would come. He kneels and kisses Derek, pushing him so he's lying on the floor.

"Fuck you," Derek replies with a grin and Stiles grins back, straddling Derek's lap. Derek grows pale as Stiles teases Derek's dick against his ass. "Stiles, you're too tight, it won't-"

Derek moans loudly as Stiles sinks down on him. Derek was right, he's too tight, it hurts but it also feels so good, Stiles is almost coming. But it's too soon.

"Fuck," Derek grips his thighs tightly and pushes in slightly.

"Stop, stop," Stiles moans and Derek stills.

"Sorry," Derek replies with a groan, "fuck, you're tight."

"Yeah," Stiles starts to rotate his hips in a slow fashion, "lie still."

"I'm trying," Derek mutters and Stiles laughs breathlessly.

"Good boy."

He pats Derek's cheek. Derek lies still for a few minutes as Stiles gets used to the new feeling inside him. He slowly starts to move more and soon he lets Derek move as well, thrusting shallowly into him at first and then deeper and harder.  Stiles moans with every thrust and tries to give back just as good as he gets.

"I'm close again," he moans after a while and he feels his orgasm coming closer. Derek fists his cock with his hand and pumps a few times before Stiles is moaning his release loudly as he comes over Derek's chest. Derek follows right after, pulsing deep into Stiles. It feels so good and Stiles falls down on top of Derek, kissing his sweaty shoulder and smiling against the warm skin.

"You did awesome," he says and Derek laughs throatily.

"You too."

"I rode you like Seabiscuit," Stiles agrees and Derek laughs.

"You rode me well," he agrees with Stiles. They lie in silence for a while and then Derek says, "Can we get up and move to the bed instead? I think I have some gravel sticking into my back."

Stiles gets off Derek and goes to the bathroom to clean off. Derek follows him and cleans off as well, every now and then he presses kisses to Stiles, anywhere he can reach, his cheek, his shoulder, his mouth. Stiles is so gone on Derek it's not even funny anymore.

"We have great sex together," he says instead of what he wants to say is 'we are great together. Not just sex but everything. Everything we do is great and we should honor that greatness and stay together forever.'

Derek smiles at him and kisses him on the mouth, it's soft and to Stiles' love-addled brain it feels almost loving, as if Derek heard everything Stiles didn't say and agreed with him. For a moment Stiles lets himself pretend that he did say it out loud and Derek did agree. They go to bed together and cuddle in close together.

"You're awesome," Stiles whispers in the darkness. He wishes to say 'I love you' but even if they had that kind of relationship it would be too soon.

"You're awesome too," Derek replies and in Stiles' mind it means 'I love you too'.

The feeling will go away eventually. Hopefully.

Stiles falls asleep with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

Life with Stiles and Maya has become so normal and Derek can't imagine going back to an empty apartment in New York. He wants to stay in Beacon Hills with Stiles and Maya and all the animals. They have become more home than New York has ever felt like. He wants to stay more than anything, but he also can't imagine staying and not be Stiles' lover. One day Stiles will grow tired of him and that day Derek can't imagine that he wants to still be in Beacon Hills. But at the same time, he's found better friends in Beacon Hills than he's ever had before and he doesn't know how to give up that either. It's not just about Stiles anymore.

"You should talk to him," Laura suggests over the phone. It might have taken her a while but Laura had managed to pull the whole story about Stiles out of Derek.

"And say what?" Derek asks.

"You say," Laura clears her throat and then talks with a fake masculine voice, "Stiles, I love you and I want to stay here with you and raise that baby with you."

Derek laughs at her and Laura laughs too.

"It's true though," she says and Derek sobers up.

"Yeah," he sighs.

"Speaking of the baby," Laura says, obviously aiming for a happier subject. "When do I get to meet her?"

"I don't know," Derek says and then he adds, "Christmas?"

"Are you coming home with her?"

"I don't think she's allowed to leave the state, but maybe you can come here?"

Laura makes a sound that Derek can't quite understand what it means.

"I'd love to."

"Okay," Derek says and smiles at the thought of seeing his sister again. "I have to talk to Stiles first. Maybe he doesn't want me here for Christmas..."

"If he doesn't, he's a fool," Laura says and Derek snorts.

"Yeah, but he _is_ a bit of a fool, really."

"Stop sounding so smitten," Laura laughs at him and he laughs too, can't help himself really, for being so smitten with Stiles.

They hang up a while after that and Derek goes to find Stiles and Maya in the kitchen making dinner, Stiles with Maya in the baby carrier on his front. Derek likes the baby carrier just as much as Stiles seems to do, it's nice to have Maya close but also to be able to use his hands. Stiles also looks ridiculously good with a baby on his front. Derek didn't know it was a kink he had, but apparently he really likes people who like babies. He might've known, Jennifer never liked babies and never wanted any of her own. Their relationship was doomed from the start.

Derek walks up to Stiles and hugs him from behind, placing his hands on Stiles' hips.

"Smells good," he says and sniffs at Stiles' hairline. Stiles laughs and bats at Derek at his back.

"I haven't showered today."

"I don't care," Derek replies and Stiles shakes his head but Derek can see that he's smiling fondly.

"You can help by setting the table," Stiles says and Derek sighs heavily, as if it's a big feat Stiles is asking of him.

He kisses Stiles' neck once before he leaves his side and sets the table. When he's done the dinner is also done so they sit down to eat, placing Maya on her blanket on the floor. Oliver comes into the kitchen and lies down next to the baby - it seems as if there's two people in this world that he likes; Derek and Maya. Molly watches over them from her basket in the corner of the kitchen while Tyler and Dylan are snoring next to her, fast asleep both of them.

"I was thinking about Christmas," Derek says after they have eaten in silence for a while.

Stiles stills and looks up at Derek, he looks nervous.  
"What about it?"

"Can I stay here?"

Stiles' shoulders drop  in obvious relief and he smiles easily.

"Sure, I'd love to have you here."

"Can Laura, my sister, come?" Derek then asks, but thinks that if Stiles is okay with Derek staying then he's probably okay with Laura coming over.

"Sure," Stiles nods and smiles, his nervousness all but gone. "We have a free bedroom so she can stay as long as she likes..."

Stiles bites his lips and looks a bit unsure suddenly.

"Unless you don't want her to know about us?" Stiles asks, his eyes not meeting Derek's.

"She already knows."

Stiles nods and looks more calm again.

"And she's okay with it?"

"With the fact that I'm bi or that I'm screwing you?" Derek smirks and Stiles laughs.

"Both," he says.

"She really looks forward to meeting you," Derek says. "Almost too much. I'm a bit scared actually."

Stiles laughs and kicks Derek softly under the table.

"Why? Think she'll show a lot of baby pictures and tell stories from your childhood?"

Derek laughs.

"Something like that," he says and realizes that he's also afraid Laura will reveal his love for Stiles. But she wouldn't, would she?

"Ah, don't worry," Stiles says and rubs his hands together, a maniac look on his face. Derek laughs at him.

"I guess I will have to blackmail her before she comes here," he says and Stiles pouts prettily.

"What about your other sister then? Cora, is it?"

"Cora, yeah. She's in Brazil and apparently she's staying over Christmas. She's doing some work there, I have never really understood what she's doing."

Stiles laughs and Derek smiles at him. God, he's beautiful when he laughs. Stiles laughs with his whole body, throwing his head back and laughs and Derek can't help but laugh as well, it's a contagious laughter.

 

Christmas shopping in Beacon Hills is a stressful but also wonderful affair. Everywhere Derek looks there are Christmas ornaments and glitter and every shop they enter play carols. It's snow outside and inside it's too hot when they wear their outdoor clothes. Derek pushes the stroller while Stiles does most of the shopping. Derek doesn't know if he should buy anything for Stiles' friends and decides on gift cards for Erica, Boyd and Isaac that he buys together with Stiles. For Jackson, Lydia, Scott and Allison he decides on wine after Stiles has assured him they all drink wine. It's something but it's not too expensive or too personal, because if he's honest he doesn't know them that well. He has to come back later on to buy Stiles' gift, even though he has no idea what to buy for the guy. He doesn't know how much money he should spend or how personal the gift should be. He thinks of buying a gift card too, but that feels too impersonal.

"Do you think Allison would like this sweater?" Stiles asks and holds up a turquoise sweater.

"I'm sure she will," Derek says, which he also said about the last shirt and the one before that.

Stiles nods and seems to decide to take it because he heads over to the counter with it. Lydia gets a gift card for the same store because "she's impossible to buy for" Stiles had told him earlier.

Stiles buys Jackson a ridiculous tie with a reindeer with a red nose that plays Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer when you press the nose.

"That's ridiculous," Derek says as Stiles presses the nose yet another time.

"It's awesome!" Stiles laughs.

Derek has a feeling Stiles and Jackson usually buy each other gag gifts. He wonders what Jackson will find for Stiles.

They take a break in the shopping for food at the only pub in town. They manage to find an empty table where they can fit Maya's stroller next to them. Sadly she wakes up and starts to cry just as they're seated.

"She's probably hungry," Stiles says with a gaze on his watch. "I'll go ask if we can warm her bottle."

He leaves as Derek tries to shush Maya so she won't disturb the other people at the pub.

"Such a cutie," an older woman leans over her table to look at Maya. "Nice, healthy lungs I hear."

"I'm sorry," Derek says and bumps the baby in his arms.

"Oh, don't worry, dear, I have given birth to no less than five children myself. They cry a lot."

Derek nods and Maya makes a gurgling sound and her cries calm down a bit.

"There, you and you're wife must be very happy," the woman says and Derek doesn't know how to explain that he doesn't have a wife and doesn't want one either, but rather a husband in the form of Stiles. Speaking of the devil... Stiles returns to the table and hands Derek a lukewarm bottle.

"Thanks," Derek says and the old woman looks between them and he can see when she catches on - it might be the wrong idea because Derek and Stiles aren't an actual couple but it's more correct than Derek having a wife at least. The old woman opens her mouth, as if to say something, but Derek gives her a glare, daring her to say anything about their situation. She huffs and turns to her friend at her own table again.

"Apparently they let in anyone here," she says, loudly enough for Derek to hear.

"Just ignore her," Stiles says and puts a hand on Derek's arm, probably not helping the old woman's hatred.

"I'm trying," Derek says and holds the bottle to Maya's mouth. She suckles happily and he finds comfort in her suckling and Stiles' hand on his arm.

A waiter comes up to them after a while, when they have had time to look at the menus. They order and Stiles starts to talk about what he can buy for Scott.

"I've been thinking of this game," he says and goes into detailed explanation about a particular video game. Derek listens but barely understands half of it. It's nice to see Stiles talk animatedly with his hands and how his face lights up when he remembers a certain thing about the game. Then he goes into explanation of another game, one that he and Scott played when they were younger and all Derek can do is nod and smile, but it's a perfect lunch date really.

The old woman leaves and her friend gives an apologetic smile at them.

"At least someone seemed to be able to remember common sense," Stiles mutters and Derek nods.

They leave the restaurant after they have eaten and go out into the cold snow again. It has already begun to grow darker outside and more people are crowding the street where all the town's shops are - they probably came directly from their jobs to do some Christmas shopping on their own.

"What are you buying for your sisters?" Stiles asks and Derek had almost forgotten them.

With help from Stiles he finds a perfume each for his sisters. They then look at some colognes at Stiles' insistence. Stiles finds his favorite and Derek memorizes the name before they leave the makeup store.

They buy a game for Scott and a sweater for Stiles' dad.

"Should I buy something for Scott's mom?" Stiles asks.

"Do you usually buy something for her?" Derek asks and Stiles shakes his head.

"But I don't know, now that she and my dad are dating, maybe I should?"

"Is Scott buying something for your dad?" Derek asks and Stiles shrugs. "Ask Scott then how he's doing and do the same thing as he does."

"Good idea," Stiles nodded and picked up his phone to send away a text to Scott. "Who else do we have left now?"

"I think we have them all," Derek replies. "I haven't bought anything for Maya but..."

"We can't do that when she's with us, can we?" Stiles says and Derek nods but the good mood is slightly ruined. Now they're both thinking about how Maya won't be with them forever.

"This sucks," Stiles sighs and Derek nods and checks Maya's blankets, just to touch her. "Let's go home."

Derek nods and they head towards the car.

"I wish she could stay forever," Stiles says and Derek nods in agreement. They haven't really talked about Maya being adopted but rather just put it out of mind, as if that makes it less real. Derek knows he could sign up for adopting her himself and he's seriously considering it, but at the same time that would mean he admits that there won't ever be anything more between him and Stiles and he's not ready to do that just yet. Soon maybe, but not yet. And not so close to Christmas, maybe next year. It sounds like something he would say just to put it off but he means it because he risks losing Maya and that would be worse than having to admit that he and Stiles will never be an actual couple, even though they seem like they are.

They go home and spend most of the car ride in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Derek thinks of telling Stiles how he feels, he needs to be that honest with Stiles at least, but knows he can't say anything before he's signed the papers so he can leave quickly should Stiles be disgusted by him. Or disgusted might be the wrong word, he doubts Stiles would actually be disgusted but Derek would understand if Stiles would feel as if Derek had betrayed him, because in some ways he had.

"What are you thinking of?" Stiles asks and turns off the main road.

"Nothing. Maya," Derek says because they know each other well enough by now so Stiles would know that he's thinking about something even if he said nothing.

"Me too," Stiles says. "Maybe we could keep her? It has worked so far."

Derek would love to say yes to that but he knows it wouldn't work in the long run.

"I don't think it could work for years, do you?"

Stiles swallows hard, the sound audible even in the noise from Stiles' Jeep.

"Probably not."

"I'm sorry," Derek feels the need to say, what for he doesn't know.

"Yeah, me too," Stiles sighs.

Dinner that evening is  a dull affair and Maya is extra cranky, probably picking up on the mood of Derek and Stiles.

"She won't stop crying," Stiles says as he bumps her in his arms as Derek prepares the salad. Derek puts down the knife.

"Let me try," he says and Stiles glares but hands over the baby reluctantly.

"As if you're the baby whisperer."

"I'm not, I just thought maybe she's..."

"What? Grown tired of me? Because I'm not home all the time like you?"

"No, Stiles, that's not what I'm saying at all," Derek tries and Maya wails in his arms. He tries to shush her and calm her but the usual bumping doesn't work at all.

"What are you saying then? That I'm a horrible father? Is that it?"

"What? No! You'll be a great father some day!"

"I don't want to be a father some day, I want that baby!" He gestures at Maya and sniffles and Derek understands what this is all about. It's about losing Maya.

"Hey, come here," Derek says and pulls Stiles close. Stiles goes willingly and buries his head against Derek's shoulder.

"We'll figure something out," Derek says but it sounds just like empty words to Derek's ears. The gap between them is too wide, they won't figure it out because Derek loves Stiles but Stiles doesn't love Derek. That's a gap no amount of love for Maya can heal. If Derek adopts Maya, Stiles will be sad and if Stiles adopts Maya, Derek will be sad, and they won't be able to raise the kid together.

"What are we going to do?" Stiles sniffles into Derek's shoulder and Derek shrugs, as much as he can shrug with both Maya and Stiles in his arms.

"I don't know, Stiles, I don't know."

Maya finally calms down but every time Derek tries to put her down she starts to cry again so they end up eating in shifts, Stiles first while Derek sits on the kitchen bench with Maya and then when Stiles is done, Derek hands over Maya to him and eats while Stiles keeps him company.

 

Derek starts writing on his book one day when Maya is asleep and Stiles is at work. It feels right. It is nothing like his usual thrillers though, even if he planned for it to be. Instead it turns out to be more about the main characters tries to be a family father as well as a secret spy. Derek has no doubt that it's because of Maya that he's suddenly writing about family rather than crime solving. Stiles lets him write and take care of Maya whenever he can and Derek has the need to write. He never asks if he can read it and Derek is thankful for that, he's not sure Stiles would like it considering that he has liked Derek's previous books. This one is quite different.

It's one day when Derek stays at home to write while Stiles and Maya go grocery shopping that Derek's phone rings. It rarely rings and when it's a unknown caller ID Derek hurries to answer, his mind immediately going to traumas concerning Stiles and Maya. Usually thoughts like that are wrong, usually everything is fine with his loved ones. This time it's not though.

"Derek Hale?" an unknown woman says.

"Yes?" Derek says and wonders if it may be some commercial or something.

"Do you know Stiles Stilinski?" she asks and Derek grows cold.

"Yes," he says. "Is everything okay? Is he...?"

Alive, is the word Derek doesn't dare to say.

"He's been in a car accident," the woman says.

Derek is thrown back in time then. To that time when he was sixteen years old and Laura came into his room. He was angry at his mom for not letting him go on a date with an older woman. So what if she was eighteen, she was gorgeous and interested in him of all people. Laura had come into his room, looking pale.

"Derek," she had said and Derek had hummed and barely looked at her until she sniffed, then he looked up and noticed her pale face and teary eyes. "Mom and dad..." she had said. "There was an accident."

Derek refused to believe that his parents were anything but fine until Laura said otherwise and he urged her with a hand gesture to continue.

"Derek, I'm so sorry," Laura said, "They didn't make it."

Derek swallows hard and barely registers what the woman on the phone is saying. His parents didn't make it, why would Stiles and Maya?

"They are at the hospital," the woman says and Derek is grabbing his keys and is out in the car before he can register what he's doing. He's hung up on the woman he realizes when he's driving towards the hospital way above the allowed speed limit. He wonders if Stiles and Maya are still even alive. She said they were at the hospital, that should mean that they still were alive, right? Derek hopes and prays that they are. He wonders what he should do if they aren't.

"Fuck," he whispers as he feels tears prickling in his eyes. He wouldn't want to live without Stiles and Maya, he realizes. He might be able to do it, but he doesn't want to.

He arrives at the hospital and hurries inside. He hears Maya the moment he steps inside the emergency ward. He's surprised he didn't hear her wailing outside. He hurries towards the sound and finds her on a bed with two confused-looking doctors.

"I can't tell if she's hurt," one of them says and Derek hurries forward to her.  
"Maya, baby, Papa's here," he says. Maya immediately stops wailing but sniffles and cries silently still. She's on her back on the bed and has a tiny neck brace and Derek prays she's not injured.

"I guess you're family then," one of the doctors says.

Derek nods.

"How is she?"

"We're going to do a full CT of her but her lungs seem to be fine at least," one of the attempts to joke.

"Do anyone of you know how Stiles is doing?" Derek asks, "He came in with her."

"Dr Shepherd is working on him," one of the doctors says and doesn't offer anything else. Derek glares at her.

"I'll go see how he's doing."

"Thank you," Derek says pointedly and then turns to Maya again. She has calmed down now and Derek caresses her forehead.

"It's going to be okay, baby," he whispers to her and she seems to find comfort in his voice and his touch.

The male doctor leaves them and Derek doesn't know how long he stays with Maya until both of the doctors come back.

"Stiles has injured his head," the female doctor says. "They're going to do a CT on him as well but he seems fine, maybe a concussion."

Derek draws a sigh of relief and hopes both Stiles' and Maya's CTs are fine. After some more time that Derek spends talking in a low voice to Maya they are allowed to go to do the CT. Maya cries during the scan but she stays still enough.

After the scan they are left alone again but it doesn't take long before one of the doctors come back.

"The CT was fine," he says and takes of the neck brace. "No need for this. She's clear of everything. I think the other side of the car took most of the hit."

Derek nods and asks he if can pick Maya up. The doctor nods and Derek hurries to pick Maya up from the bed and hug her tightly. She grabs his shirt in her tiny fists and holds on tight.

"You're okay," Derek whispers and then turns to the doctor again. "Can we go see Stiles?"

The doctor nods.

"Sure, come with me."

Derek follows the doctor to another room where Stiles is lying on a bed. He has a neck brace on him but is talking to the doctor and seems to be fine.

"Stiles?" Derek asks. Stiles lights up.

"Derek! Come here so I can see you! Have you seen Maya? Is she...?"

Derek hurries up so he can look down at Stiles and smiles.

"She's fine, did a CT."

"I'm waiting for mine as well."

Derek nods and wants to kiss and hug Stiles, now that he can see him and knows he's fine and taken care off.

"Come here and kiss me," Stiles says, as if reading Derek's mind. Derek laughs but does as he is asked and leans down to press their lips together.

"I was worried about you," Derek says and sits down on an available chair next to the bed. "Both of you."

"But we're tough, aren't we, Maya?"

He shakes her foot and she giggles at that. Derek smiles and Stiles rests his hand on Maya's foot, probably wanting to feel her near. Derek feels the same way as he holds her close to him and talks to Stiles. It takes almost an hour before Stiles is brought down to the CT scan and he's let go when the CT comes back clear. Stiles hugs Derek and Maya the moment he's out of his neck brace and they have said he's free to go.

"Don't scare me like that again," Derek mutters into his hairline and Stiles makes a half-choked sound, probably somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

"I'm sorry, the other car came from nowhere and drove right into my side. I wonder how my jeep is doing."

Derek rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything. He hands over Maya when Stiles gestures for her. He sniffs at her hair and kisses her cheeks just like Derek had done when he was free to touch the baby.

 

Stiles' car is surprisingly okay considering what it has been through with the crash. There's a dent in the side but nothing that can't be fixed, Stiles says. Stiles touches the dashboard softly when they drive out to get his car and Derek thinks that as Stiles got the car after his mom it probably has more emotional value to him than an ordinary car would have.

Christmas is coming closer by every day and Derek is starting to get nervous about Laura coming. He hopes she will like Stiles and Maya. He's quite sure she will like Maya because Maya is adorable and everyone loves her but he's worried that she won't like Stiles (even though he's adorable and likeable as well). She would most likely think that Stiles isn't good enough for Derek. Stiles is perfect for Derek, Derek hopes Laura will see this.

Derek is now seriously considering trying to adopt Maya. He wonders how Stiles will take the news and has decided to wait until after Christmas and New Years  to tell him. He hopes Stiles will be happy for him.

 

Laura comes by airplane late on December the twenty-third and Derek goes into town to get her from the train she had to take from Portland. He leaves Stiles and Maya home after kissing each of them goodbye. It's something they have begun doing more after the accident. They don't talk about it but Derek has a feeling Stiles is also afraid that it's the last time they see each other whenever the other walks out the door. He doesn't know if Stiles is worried about only losing Maya or if he's worried about losing Derek as well. Derek wonders about this as he drives to the train station. He arrives before Laura does and waits for her at the platform. The train rolls into the station and Derek waits as a lot of people step off. He guesses most of them work in Portland and live in Beacon Hills. Laura is almost next to him when he spots her and smiles at her.

"Der!" she says and drops her bag on the snow-covered ground to hug him. "God, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," Derek says and pulls her close before letting her go. He picks up her bag and shows her to the car.

"So how are things?" she asks when they are seated in the car.

Derek nods.

"They are good. It's... I really like it here," he says. They drive through town and Derek points to the different shops and Laura laughs.

"It's so small," she says. "I can't believe you like it here."

"Me neither. Everyone knows everyone, but I like it," Derek says and he does. He thought it would bother him but it doesn't, instead it feels safe and familiar.

"And Stiles?" Laura asks, "Have you told him about how you plan on adopting Maya?"

Derek shakes his head.

"I thought I would wait until after the holidays. I think that's for the best."

Laura nods.

"You're probably right."

They arrive home and Derek realizes with a pang that it really is home for him.

"I think I might stay here," he tells Laura.

"Even if things don't work the way you want them to with Stiles?"

Derek nods.

"I think so," he says. "I'm not sure, but it feels like home, this place."

"I'm glad," Laura smiles. "I'll miss you in New York, but I understand and I'm glad for you."

"Thank you."

They get out of the car and Derek shows her the dark pasture where the llama and sheep live.

"We'll look at them tomorrow," Derek tells his sister, who looks excited at the prospect of seeing the sheep and the llama.

They head inside and is met by Stiles and Maya who stands in the doorway to the kitchen. Laura stops dead in her tracks and Derek has to shove at her to be able to close the door. She stares at Stiles and Maya and then her whole face lights up.

"You must be Stiles," she says and Stiles smiles at her.

"Yep, and you must be Laura or did Derek find a stranger on the train station?"

"As if he would ever replace you," Laura says and Stiles blushes slightly. Derek wants to hit his head in a wall - or more preferably, hit his sister's head in a wall. "And this must be Maya," Laura continues and Stiles nods.

"I want to hold her," Laura says and Stiles holds up the baby. "Wait, I have to take off my coat."

Laura does quick work on her coat and hands it over to Derek, as if he's the hanger. Laura then takes Maya into her arms and coos at the baby.

"Oh, she's adorable," Laura says and bumps Maya. Maya giggles and Derek smiles and hangs up Laura's coat as well as his own. Stiles smiles at him and Derek wants to walk up and kiss him but he knows Laura would probably make a scene out of it so he stays where he is, watching Laura coo at Maya.

"Pictures don't do her justice," Laura says and Derek laughs.

"No, they don't. I got a really ugly one of her the other day," Stiles says and pulls out his phone to show Laura, who laughs at the picture.

"How's dinner going?" Derek asks because Stiles was supposed to have dinner ready when Derek and Laura got home.

"It's fine," Stiles says and walks into the kitchen. Derek follows him and watches his ass as Stiles bends to check on the lasagna in the oven.

"I saw that," Laura says in a low voice as she walks past Derek and Derek blushes slightly. Laura winks and smirks at him and sits down on the bench with Maya in her arms. Merida comes up onto the bench and Laura coos at her.

"I thought all the cats were in cages," she says and Derek shakes his head.

"Merida is Stiles', as are Dylan and Tyler," he points to the basket where the two dogs are sleeping soundly next to each other. They rarely walk anywhere without the other.

"What about that cat then?" Laura says and points to the cat on top of the freezer. He blinks slowly at her.

"He just hates being in a cage," Stiles explains. "As does Oliver, a red cat that loves Derek and Maya. He hates people otherwise."

"Shouldn't you adopt him then?" Laura asks and Derek shrugs. He's been thinking about adopting Oliver but he knows he can't take the cat with him if he moves back to New York or if he moves to an apartment. Though the more he thinks about it the more he wants to stay in aunt Norma's house.

Stiles declares the dinner ready then and Derek takes Maya from Laura's arms and sets her in her bouncy chair that they mostly keep in the kitchen for her.

They dig in on the food and talk about the upcoming Christmas plans. On Christmas Eve their friends are coming over and they exchange gifts and eat food. On Christmas Day Stiles' dad will coming along with Scott, Allison and Scott's mom Melissa. They tell Laura about their friends and she listens and asks the right questions.

After they have eaten Derek and Laura goes to check on the animals in the shelter while Stiles stays behind and does the dishes. Laura coos at all the dogs and most of them happily lick her hands and face when she bends down to pet them. Then they go to the cats and Laura coos at them too. The cats are much more chill at being cooed at and most of them just stay in their place, looking like kings and queens.

"Stiles seems awesome," Laura says when they are done and Derek smiles.

"He is."

"I know you think so, but I didn't know what I would think of him," Laura says. "I never liked Jennifer, you know."

"I know," Derek nods. "And you were right about her."

"I know," Laura mimics.

"So you like Stiles then?"

Laura laughs.

"Stop fishing for my approval of your boyfriend."

"I'm not fishing for your approval!" Derek defends himself because he's over thirty and doesn't need his sister's approval of whom he's dating. Except that he would really like her blessing for it.

"You have it," Laura says and puts an arm around Derek's shoulders. "My blessing, approval, whatever. I like Stiles. I only hope he treats you right."

"Yeah, he does."

"Except for the fact that you both pretend that it's not a real relationship even though you are raising a kid together."

"Yeah, except for that."

"I'll never understand you, baby bro," Laura says and Derek laughs and shoves at her.

"There's nothing to understand."

"You really should talk to him though, I think he might feel the same way," Laura says quietly just before Derek's about to open the door to the kitchen.

"I don't think so," Derek says even though it hurts to say so.

"But I do, Derek," Laura says and Derek sighs. "Seriously, Der, you should talk to him. I think he might be falling for you too. It was ages since you got together and a lot can happen. Especially with Maya being around."

"So you think he falls in love with me because we raise a kid together?" Derek asks and Laura shakes her head.

"That's not what I meant," she sighs. "I just... I really think you should tell him how you feel."

Derek nods slowly. He has been thinking about it, even more since the accident.

"I will tell him, after the holidays."

"That's good enough for me," Laura nods. "Should we head back?"

Derek opens the door and Stiles is doing a silly dance for Maya who's watching him with her big, blue eyes.

"She's too young to understand that your dance is funny," Derek tells Stiles and Stiles whirls around to face them. His face reddens and Laura snickers behind Derek and shoves past him into the kitchen.

"You weren't supposed to see that," Stiles says.

"I've seen you dance around in your underwear," Derek counters and Stiles reddens even more.

"Okay, Laura wasn't supposed to see that," he corrects himself. Laura laughs at that.

"Don't worry, I've seen bad dance moves before," she says and kneels in front of Maya in the bouncy chair. "Is your daddy silly, huh?"

Derek looks at Stiles to see how he reacts to being called daddy and smiles when Stiles' face lights up and he smiles down at Maya.

"Are you done with the dishes?" Derek asks Stiles who looks up at Derek and nods, his face still a bit red but his smile relaxed and happy.

"Should we move to the living room instead?"

They play games until late that night. Derek then shows Laura the room she's staying in, aunt Norma's old room, and then he returns to his and Stiles' room. Maya is fast asleep and Derek quickly undresses before he crawls in between the cool sheets. Stiles' body is warm against his and Derek presses his thigh in between Stiles' legs. Stiles moans softly and ruts against Derek's thigh.

"Fuck," he whispers and hugs Derek closer. Derek presses his own erection against Stiles' and groans when they make contact.

They make quick work to get rid of their underwear and Derek grabs the lube from the drawer of the bedside table.

"How do you want me?" Stiles asks, just assuming that he gets to bottom this time. Derek doesn't mind though.

"On your back," he orders and Stiles smiles and runs a hand over his nipple, knowing so well what that does to Derek.

Derek crawls in between Stiles' legs and kisses him filthily. He pours some lube onto his fingers then and massages Stiles' hole with his wet fingers.

"Yeah, you're doing good," Stiles moans softly and pats Derek's cheek. Derek huffs out a laugh and pours more lube onto his fingers before he presses one finger inside. Stiles moans again and arches his back. Stiles is soon relaxed enough for Derek to put another finger into him. And after a few thrusts Stiles is ready for yet another. Soon enough Derek enters him with his cock instead of with his fingers, slowly but surely, reveling in the tightness and warmth.

"Fuck," he moans into Stiles' hair and Stiles tugs at his hair.

"Move, dammit," he swears and Derek has no choice but to obey. He might explode if he doesn't.

He moves slowly at first, but then quicker when he feels himself coming closer. It feels so good to be buried deep into Stiles, to be close and feel Stiles tremble with every movement.

"God, yes," Stiles moans, a bit too loud and Derek shushes at him - he really doesn't want his sister to hear them.

"Sorry," Stiles laughs breathlessly and continues to moan softly, hopefully not loud enough for Laura to hear.

Derek continues to pound relentlessly into Stiles, feeling himself draw closer.

"Der, Derek," Stiles moans and fists his hair to pull him into a filthy kiss. "God, yes, fuck, I love you, yes."

Derek stills and feels himself coming, without much of a warning really. Stiles said the L-word. Stiles said he loved him.


	6. Chapter 6

Stiles might have done a lot of stupid shit in his life, but none of them feels more stupid than telling Derek Hale that he loves him.

It's not under the planned forms of a dinner date with lit candles during which Stiles would try to convince Derek that they would be awesome together. It's not even during a fight or when Stiles had just had his life flashed him by. No, it's during sex, when Stiles' brain to mouth filter is the worst. The worst part is that Derek is so close so he's coming despite Stiles' words and that makes Stiles comes too. Derek cleans him off afterwards but Stiles can tell he heard and that he's wondering what the hell is wrong with Stiles. Stiles does what any sane person would do, he feigns sleep. It wouldn't be the first time he had fallen asleep after Derek had fucked him senseless. As he fakes sleep he hears Derek sighs heavily before he lies down next to Stiles. He doesn't hug Stiles like he usually does so Stiles knows he's affected by the words. He probably wants to sleep in his own bed, only Laura sleeps there now.

Stiles lies awake long after Derek has fallen asleep.

 

Stiles takes the night shift when Maya wakes up a few hours later and after he has fed her he finally manages to fall asleep. When he wakes up he's alone in the room and when he enters the kitchen there's a note on the table.

_We went for a walk with the dogs_

That's all it says and Stiles is suddenly angry with Derek for being so short towards him. Usually Derek would walk in and wake Stiles up, if only to tell him that he goes for a run with the dogs. But apparently they can't talk to one another anymore just because Stiles happens to love Derek. Stiles has loved Derek all this time but Derek doesn't need to know that now, does he?

Stiles eats breakfast with Merida as the only company, Tyler and Dylan have apparently deserted him for Derek (not that Stiles can blame them). He seethes and thinks of all the things he's going to say to Derek when he gets back. He knows he won't say any of them, but it's nice to fantasize about it. In most scenarios Derek admits his undying love for Stiles and they end up having sex on the kitchen table (or against the wall or the counter, Stiles' imagination isn't picky). Stiles is delusional, there's no other word for it.

When Derek and the others get back, Derek doesn't meet Stiles' gaze and he looks sad. Stiles suddenly understands that Derek feels sorry for him, for falling for Derek when he knew Derek was still hung up on his ex and that what they had was only sex. And raising a baby together. There's nothing simple about their relationship, Stiles thinks as he tries to make Derek look at him. Derek refuses, he's stubborn like that. Stiles wonders if he could force himself onto Derek but then Derek would most likely be able to tackle him to the ground and escape.  Derek is a lot more stronger than Stiles is even though Derek has said that Stiles is stronger than he looks.

"Are you okay?" Laura asks when Derek has gone to take a shower. Stiles looks up from where he's playing with Maya. Laura looks concerned and it hurts Stiles to see the same eyes as Derek's look at him with concern when it's not Derek that is looking at him.

"Did Derek say anything?" He asks instead because he can't lie to her, but he can't tell her the truth either. He doesn't know her well enough to do that.

"No, he didn't say anything. Seriously, he was quiet the whole time. Did something happen?"

"You should ask your brother that," Stiles says and his heart aches because Stiles doesn't know if Derek would laugh when he tells his sister about how Stiles has fallen in love with him.

"I will," Laura promises, "but now I'm asking you because you both look like someone kicked your puppy."

"I," Stiles begins but doesn't know how to continue. He has no idea what he should tell Laura to get her off his back. _Tell her the truth_ , a small voice in his head that sounds a lot like Scott says. Scott! He'll know what to do.

"I have to call my friend, can you watch Maya?"

Laura pouts but nods.

"Sure, go make your super important call."

"It is super important," Stiles nods seriously and then laughs to show that he's joking, though he's not really joking.

He goes to the shelter part of the house to make the call to Scott.

"Only you, Stiles," Scott says after Stiles has told him the story of how Stiles confessed his love to Derek while they were having sex.

"But what should I do?" Stiles whines at his friend. Scott sighs heavily.

"Have you tried talking to him?" he asks. "Tried telling him the truth?"

"The truth? That I'm head over heels in love with him? Scott, we're celebrating Christmas together. I can't-"

"You'll ruin Christmas either way with your moping," Scott states and that is so unfair. And probably true.

"But what do I say? How do I say it? Do I just say "Derek, I'm in love with you. I'm sorry that it may inconvenience you but I am", or what?"

"Yeah, something like that," Scott says and Stiles _hears_ that he's shrugging. He obviously doesn't see the problem here.

"But he knows that already," Stiles whines, "I've already told him and now he's freaking out."

"Maybe he thought you only said it in the heat of the moment," Scott suggests.

"But he should know I didn't," Stiles says and waves with his free hand.

"Then tell him," Scott says. "Honestly, dude, you have nothing to lose anymore, do you?"

"That..." is not true, Stiles is about to say but he realizes that it is. He's got nothing to lose anymore. He's already lost Derek. He might as well go down screaming.

"I'll talk to him," he promises Scott. "See you later."

"I hope you two have cleared things up by then, I hate to be in the middle of your moping," Scott says before they hang up on each other.

Stiles is just about to open the door when he hears raised voices.

"Just talk to him," Laura pleads and Derek makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. He does that when people tell him things he knows are true but doesn't want to hear, Stiles has come to realize. He hates that he knows this about Derek. He hates even more that he doesn't hate it at all.

He considers eavesdropping but then decides against it and opens the door soundly.  Derek and Laura stop talking and turn to him.

"Hi?" he says and considers going back to the shelter again.

Laura sighs and gives Derek a demanding look.

"I think," Derek says and Stiles takes a deep breath because this is it, "we should talk."

Stiles nods and is suddenly terrified of whats to come. Laura picks up Maya from the bouncy chair and leaves the room silently, leaving Stiles and Derek in silence, staring at each other. Derek swallows audibly and Stiles mimics it. Fuck, they really are going to talk now.

"I," they both begin at the same time.

"You go first," they then say and gesture at the other.

Stiles releases a nervous laugh but stops just as quickly as it began.

"I," Derek begins again and Stiles makes a go on-gesture with his hand. "I'm thinking of adopting Maya."

All the air leaves Stiles' lungs even though he knew Derek was attached to Maya.

"I think I'll stay here in Beacon Hills and we can meet but we can't... we can't continue what we're doing. It's not right."

Stiles feels tears prickle at the corners of his eyes. He knew this day would come but he had hoped it wouldn't come this soon.

"So you're breaking up with me?" he asks because he needs things to be said out loud.

Derek nods and swallows and looks actually sad, as if breaking things off with Stiles saddens  him.

"I think that's for the best," Derek nods and through his own tears he sees Derek rub at his own eyes. Fuck, is he crying too?

"I just," Stiles says, "I need to know. Is it because I have fallen for you?"

Derek stills and stares at Stiles, as if he's hearing this for the very first time. Which, where was he last night?

"You've... you've fallen for me?" Derek asks and looks as if this is the weirdest thing he's ever heard.

"Yeah, I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious with what I said last night," Stiles rubs at his neck, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"But..." Derek begins and looks lost."What about Norma?"

"What about her?"

"She died, and you... she left you alone."

"Yeah, but what has that got to do with us?"

"I was your rebound," Derek states and what? Stiles doesn't need a rebound. From what would he need a rebound? Loneliness? He says this and Derek looks confused.

"But you and Norma were a couple," he says and looks really cute when he's confused.

"What? No! Who said that? Was it Jackson? I swear to god I will-"

"You said that," Derek says. "Or... I thought you did. You didn't date Norma?"

"What? No! She was like, fifty years older than me."

"Love has no age," Derek states as if he wants  Stiles to have been dating Norma. Which is just weird. Why would Stiles date Norma? Sure, she was nice but she was like a grandmother to him or something.

"Why did you think Norma and I were dating?" Stiles asks and laughs. "That is so weird."

"I just," Derek says and looks confused and pretty and Stiles wants to kiss him, but they are broken up so he's not allowed to do that anymore. Why are they even talking about Norma?

"Why are we talking about Norma?"

"I thought I was your rebound after Norma."

"I was _your_ rebound," Stiles says and Derek's face which had cleared up from confused to embarrassed looks confused again.

"No, I was yours," Derek utters. "Why would I need a rebound?"

"After your girlfriend? What was her name? Jennie? "

"Jennifer," Derek says darkly. "She was a psycho, I told you what she did."

"Oh, my god," Stiles says when he understands it all. "I thought I was your rebound and you thought you were mine. That's hilarious."

Derek doesn't look as if it's hilarious at all. He looks as if he's never heard anything more stupid in his whole life.

"Okay, not yet, but it will be in a few years."

Derek shakes his head, but he's got a fond smile that quickly slips away though.

"Did you mean it?" he asks and he looks nervous, he fingers on his belt and Stiles would like to ask him to unbuckle it, but now might be the wrong time. "That you have fallen for me?"

Stiles nods.

"From day one," he says and Derek inhales sharply and then he nods.

"Me too," he says softly, voice barely more than a whisper. "I've fallen for you, I mean."

"Really?"

"Really," Derek says and Stiles wastes no time hugging Derek, pulling him close and kissing him and just be near him.

"God, I'm so in love with you," Stiles whispers in his ear and hugs him tightly.

"Me too."

Derek laughs softly.

"Fuck, how could we get everything so wrong?"

"I don't know," Stiles says. "Fuck, I'm sorry for everything."

"Me too, Stiles, me too."

 

Laura breaks them apart a long time later when Derek has Stiles up against the table and is on a good way to rid him his pants and make truth of one of Stiles' fantasies.

"Oh, my god!" Laura shouts. "I thought you had killed each other, you were so quiet. Oh, my god! I did not need to see that!"

Stiles snickers into Derek's neck even though he can feel his cheeks heat up. Derek's ears are prettily red. Stiles hurries to pull on his pants but Laura is already gone again.

"Come, we should go talk to her," Derek says and takes Stiles' hand. They go to the living room where Maya and Laura are on the floor. Laura glares at them but she's also smiling so Stiles guesses they are not in that big of trouble.

"So you talked?" she asks and nods towards their entangled hands.

"We talked," Derek says and smiles. He pulls Stiles with him to the floor where they sit down. Derek leans against the couch and Stiles leans against him, reveling in the happiness that he's allowed to do this now.

"And?" Laura prompts, as if their hand-holding isn't answer enough for her.

"There was a misunderstanding," Derek says and Laura looks confused. "Stiles never dated aunt Norma."

"You thought I dated Norma, too?" Stiles interjects and Laura has the grace to look slightly ashamed at least. "Why would you think that?"

"You lived here," Derek defends himself and his sister. "It was a perfectly normal assumption."

"No, it wasn't," Stiles argues but with no real heat behind his words. He's just so glad that they have cleared up the misunderstanding and that he and Derek are actually dating for real.

"So you are dating now?" Laura interrupts and Stiles looks at Derek, suddenly scared that Derek will say that they aren't dating. But Derek smiles and nods, his eyes flicking to Stiles' face and his smile grow broader.

"Yeah, we're dating," he says and Stiles feels his stomach swoop at those words.

"I'm so happy for you," Laura says and creeps over the floor to hug Derek. "Both of you," she says and pulls Stiles into a hug. Stiles laughs and pats her back, slightly awkward.

"We're family, don't be shy," Laura laughs and lets him go. Stiles laughs at that, happy and exhilarated. He looks forward to be part of Derek's family. Speaking of family... Derek had said he wanted to adopt Maya, does that mean he would be okay with them adopting the baby together? It's quite soon to adopt a baby already but Stiles knows without a doubt in his heart that Maya is the most perfect baby ever and that he never will love a baby as much as he loves Maya. He decides to talk to Derek about Maya later when they are alone, when Laura isn't around.

They spend the day playing with Maya, walking dogs and playing with cats until it's time to start prepare the dinner. Laura leaves most of the cooking to Stiles and Derek while she keeps track on Maya instead. Maya seems to like Laura so Stiles is happy that someone keeps the baby occupied so they can cook without being interrupted every other minute by Maya demanding their attention.

Scott and Allison are the first to arrive. Scott immediately notices Stiles' happy face and smiles and comes up to him.

"Did you talk to Derek?" he asks in a low voice.

Stiles nods.

"We're dating now," he smiles, can't help himself really.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Scott says and hugs him. "I'm happy for you."

He then goes over to hug Derek too. Then he introduces himself to Laura, which Allison had already done. She comes over to Stiles and hugs him hello.

"Merry Christmas," she says and fires off her dimpled smile at him.

"Merry Christmas," Stiles says and turns to check on the food.

Next to come is Lydia, Jackson and Danny. With their dogs the kitchen is soon full and everyone is talking and laughing. Stiles smiles at his friends as he adds the finishing touches to the dinner before he and Derek carry it over to the table where their friends are already seated. Laura hands over Maya to Derek who sits her in her bouncy chair.

"Dig in," Stiles says when all the food is on the table. Derek comes and sits beside him and Stiles sends a smile his way before he's handed some salad from Laura on his other side.

The dinner is a pleasant affair, even though Jackson is there, and after they move to the living room where the Christmas tree is. They put all their gifts under the tree and then Scott is assigned as Santa and handed a red Santa hat.

"First gift is to Lydia," Scott reads and hands a small package to Lydia. It's a necklace from Allison and Scott. "The second one is for Maya from Lydia and Jackson."

"Maya?" Stiles says stupidly and feels tears prickling in his eyes.

"Is he going to cry now?" Jackson asks.

"Shut up," Stiles and Lydia tell him at the same time.

"I think it's cute," Allison adds.

"Here," Scott hands the gift to Derek instead and Stiles shuffles closer on the floor to look when Derek opens it. It's dark blue dress that she will look amazing in.

"Thank you," Stiles sniffles.

To his great surprise everyone, not only Lydia and Jackson, have bought gifts for Maya as well and she gets a doll, another dress and a stuffed wolf. Stiles gets a sweater with two reindeers on, one of them mounting the other, from Jackson and he pulls it on immediately. Jackson puts on his tie and annoys everyone by pressing the reindeer's red nose every other minute.

It's an awesome night and when the guests go home Stiles is tired but happy. He and Derek crawl into bed and snuggles in close to each other.

"Merry Christmas, Stiles," Derek whispers in the darkness.

"Merry Christmas, Derek," Stiles replies. "I love you. God, it feels good to say it."

Derek chuckles and presses their mouths together.

"I love you too."

Stiles smiles into the darkness and hears Maya's soft snores. He can't believe he's this happy, that he's this blessed to have the man of his dreams and the child of his dreams.

"Hey, Derek?" he asks after a while.

"Yeah?" Derek answers sleepily.

"You said you thought about adopting Maya..."

"Yeah?"

"Would you want to adopt her together with me?"

Stiles holds his breath but doesn't have to wait long.

"I'd love to," Derek says and presses their lips together. "It would be perfect."

"It would, wouldn't it?" Stiles agrees.


	7. Chapter 7

Derek wakes up to feeling warm and with a familiar weight on his back. He smiles as he sees Maya move in her crib next to the bed. He can't believe he's this lucky, that Stiles wants him just as much as Derek wants Stiles or that they are going to try to adopt Maya. Maya makes an annoyed sound -  a sign that she soon will start to cry and Derek eases out from under Stiles to pick her up.

"What time is it?" Stiles mumbles from behind.

"Eight," Derek answers after a look on the clock on the bedside table. "Go back to sleep."

"Mm, 'kay," Stiles mumbles and is out like a light again.

Derek gets up from the bed and pulls on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before he picks Maya up from her crib.

"Hey, baby girl," he whispers. "Come on, let's leave daddy to sleep, shall we?"

Maya doesn't answer but Derek carries her to the kitchen anyway. He's about to warm her bottle when Laura shuffles into the kitchen, looking like she just woke up.

"Did you see that it's snowing outside?" she says in a way of saying good morning and sits down on the kitchen bench. Derek looks out the window and sees that she's right. Large, white snowflakes are falling slowly from the sky. It's beautiful.

"Merry Christmas," Derek smiles and Laura snorts.

"If I had known you would be this happy I wouldn't have come here."

"Liar," Derek says and Laura nods.

"Yeah. I love seeing you happy."

"Yeah, me too. You, I mean. Are you happy?"

"I guess. I might not be walking around on clouds but I'm happy enough."

"I'm glad," Derek smiles and Laura smiles at him.

"So how are you guys doing with Maya?" she asks and makes grabby hands at the baby. Derek hands her over - it's easier to do things with both hands anyway.

"We're trying to adopt her," Derek says and can't keep the ridiculous smile from his face.

"Really?" Laura mimics his smile and bumps Maya. "Did you hear that? I'm going to be an aunt."

"That was the important stuff you got from this?" Derek asks and Laura sticks out her tongue at him.

"I'm going to be an awesome aunt," she declares. "I will spoil her rotten, you'll see."

"I can't wait," Derek deadpans and Laura laughs.

"Now, make me some coffee, will you?"

Derek laughs but does as he's asked. He also prepares some toast for them before he goes to his and Stiles' bedroom to see if Stiles is ready to get up. Stiles turns around in the bed and smiles at him.

"I can't believe you're mine," he smiles.

"Merry Christmas," Derek says and walks over to kiss him good morning.

"Merry Christmas indeed," Stiles mumbles and tries to tip Derek into the bed. Derek laughs and stays where he is. "You're no fun."

"Laura is waiting in the kitchen. I don't want her to walk in on us."

"Again," Stiles adds, unhelpfully for his case really.

"Again," Derek nods. "Now, get up and I'll make you breakfast."

"And who said romance was dead?"

"I'll romance you another day when my sister isn't waiting in the kitchen."

"Okay," Stiles nods and gets out of bed.

Derek leaves him and goes back to the kitchen where Laura is singing and dancing in the kitchen. With a pang Derek realizes that she really looks like their mom, she used to dance and sing a lot too.

"You look a lot like mom," he tells her and she turns to face him.

"Really?" She looks both sad and happy at the same time, if that's even a thing.

Derek nods.

"I remember she used to sing a lot when she was in the kitchen," Derek says. "I was embarrassed when we had friends over but I guess it was nice. I missed it afterwards..."

Laura swallows and nods.

"Yeah. You were so angry afterwards, after they died. I... Sometimes I wished that they could come back just so you would be happy again."

"I... I'm sorry," Derek says. He had no idea he had been angry. But thinking about it, he guesses he spent the rest of his teenage years being angry at his parents for dying. Mostly he had been angry at himself for being angry at them when they died.

"I was angry at them when they died," he admits to Laura, unsure if he's ever told her - or anyone - this. "So after they died I was angry at myself for being angry at them. I'm sorry if I seemed angry at you."

"It's okay," Laura says and walks up to him. "You're happy now."

"I am."

"Mom and dad would love to see you this happy."

"Yeah," Derek swallows and looks at Maya. "I like to believe that they can see us."

"I would like that too."

Derek hugs Laura and plants a kiss on Maya's head.

"Christmas hugs? I'm in," Stiles says and plants himself against Derek's back. He sneaks his arms around Derek's waist and kisses his neck softly.

Derek laughs and shoves an elbow in Stiles' stomach but not too hard. Stiles laughs too and Laura smiles at them.

"Help me with the breakfast," Derek orders Stiles, who obeys and they are soon seated at the table to eat their breakfast.

When they've eaten they go for a long walk in the snow with the dogs. The dogs seem to really enjoy themselves and jump and bark at each other. The snow crunches under their feet and it really feels like Christmas. Derek takes Stiles' hand and they walk hand in hand, something they usually can't do when they are out walking as one of them has to push the stroller, but now Laura seems to take the role as aunt seriously and pushes the stroller happily.

When they get back home they are all a bit cold with their cheeks red but once they get inside they are quickly warmed up.

"When are the others coming over?"

"At two," Stiles says, "I need a shower."

"Yeah, me too," Derek says and Stiles turns an angelic smile towards Laura, who looks a bit sick.

"Yeah, I can watch Maya," she sighs and Stiles herds Derek out of the kitchen.

"Come on, it was ages since we last showered together."

He slaps Derek's ass and laughs manically while Laura makes gagging noises in the kitchen.

After having taken a long, hot shower Stiles starts on the dinner while Derek watches Maya and Laura showers.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year," Stiles sings happily while dancing around in the kitchen and Derek wants to kiss and hug him but also just leave him be because he's so beautiful as he is. He looks so happy and content and it doesn't matter that he wears the ugly sweater he got from Jackson last night, he's still beautiful. Derek can't believe he's this lucky to have Stiles as his own.

He looks down at Maya and can't believe he gets to have her as well. He only hopes he gets to keep her.  She gurgles happily and grabs at his face. She's not old enough yet to understand what her hands are doing and it's adorable.

The dinner is almost ready when the sheriff and Melissa arrive. They greet everyone and coo at Maya. Derek wonders when they are going to tell them that they will try to adopt Maya. Or if Stiles doesn't want to tell them until it's done.

He doesn't have to wonder long because when dinner is ready and they are all seated Stiles shushes them all.

"I would like to tell you something," he says and takes Derek's hand. Scott's eyes dart to their hands and he grins broadly.

"Me and Derek are going to try to adopt Maya," Stiles says and everyone smiles and congratulates them.

The sheriff gets up from the table and walks around to Stiles' side.

"Come here, son," he says and pulls Stiles up from his chair and into a hug. When their hug is over he turns to Derek and pulls him into a hug as well.

"I'm so happy for you," he says and wipes at his eyes. "And for you," he tells Maya who's in her normal place in the bouncy chair. "I'm going to be a grandfather."

"If everything works out our way," Stiles adds and Derek squeezes his hand.

"I'm sure it will," the sheriff says and raises his glass once he's back at his seat. "To Stiles and Derek. And Maya, of course."

They smile and cheer with the others. It's a nice dinner and afterwards they open presents. The sheriff and Melissa both had bought presents for Maya. Even Laura had bought a stuffed rabbit for her. Derek feels such gratitude towards his friends and family and looking at Stiles he knows Stiles feels the same way.

They hang with their friends and family all evening and are quite tired when Scott and Allison leave well into the night.

"It was probably one of the best Christmases I have ever had," Stiles says when he checks on Maya, who are sleeping next to their bed.

 

When the holidays are over they start to turn Norma's old room into a nursery instead. Derek says they can't be sure that Maya is going to get to stay with them but Stiles is adamant, he says that if they don't do it it's like saying Maya won't be theirs.

They call Janet and book an appointment with her at her office. They go there on a Wednesday at noon. The snow is falling outside but inside it's warm. They are there early and have to wait for their appointment. Stiles moves around restlessly in his chair while Derek tries to sit still and be calm. He knows it's not Janet's decision if they are going to adopt or not and even if it was she wouldn't decide anything today but Derek is still nervous. Earlier it has felt as if anything is possible but now he's not sure, why would they choose two gay men who barely has their shit together over a straight, middle-aged couple that always have wanted a child? The door to the offices area opens and Janet steps out. She smiles at them and welcomes them there.

"Is everything going alright?" she asks once they are in her office. She is seated behind a desk and Derek and Stiles in chairs on the other side of the desk. There is barely room for Maya's stroller in the office.

"Everything is fine," Stiles says, "well, more than fine, excellent."

Janet smiles at them but Derek can detect a certain amount of confusion in her face. Her eyebrows are knitted together and her smile looks a bit hesitant.

"It's going so great that we want to adopt Maya," Stiles says.

"Maya?"

Derek has completely forgotten that Janet doesn't know the baby as Maya.

"The baby," he gestures towards the stroller. "Maya is what we have been calling her."

"I see," Janet smiles and she doesn't look as confused as before anymore. "So you are interested in adoption?"

They both nod and she smiles and gets up from her chair to search through her files at the wall.

"Fill out this form," she tells them.  "This is just the first of many papers."

They spend the next hour or so at Janet's office and she tells them everything they need to know for the adoption and how it works.

"Oh," she says when they are almost done, "I know you two aren't married, but it would be easier for you if you were."

"Okay," Stiles nods and Derek tries to understand what that okay means. If it means 'okay, I understand' or 'okay, I would love to marry Derek'. Or maybe 'okay, because I love Maya I can agree to marry Derek'.

"I don't mean to make you two uncomfortable," Janet explains, "but I want to help. I like you two and you seem to take good care of Maya."

Derek smiles kindly at her.

"We try our best," he tells her honestly. "We... well, we love her and want what's best for her."

"I can see that," Janet smiles. "I will let you know how this goes," she gestures at the papers they have filled in.

"Thank you for your time," Derek says and they shake hands before they exit her office.

Once outside Stiles lets out a breath of air, a large cloud of warmth forming from his mouth in the cold air.

"Are you okay?" Derek asks and Stiles turns to him and nods. He smiles and steps up to hug Derek.

"This is totally unromantic, but will you marry me?"

Derek can't help it, he lets out a laugh but silences when Stiles begins to pull away.

"Yes," he says and laughs again, pulling Stiles close to him again. "Yes, I will marry you."

Stiles laughs too and Derek spins him around before he lets him go to kiss him.

"That was probably the most unromantic proposal in history," Stiles laughs as they head through town to their car. "We should probably buy rings, don't you think?"

"We can go look at some now, if you want to," Derek suggests and Stiles nods. They go to the jeweler and gaze at different engagement rings.

"I want gold," Stiles says and Derek nods. "The silver ones can be any kinds of rings but golden rings then people understand that I'm taken."

Derek chuckles and Stiles smiles at him.

"I can't believe we are getting married," he says and Derek agrees wholeheartedly. He thought it was a big enough commitment to adopt a baby together. The marriage seems just like a fun part though.

They manages to find a few rings that they both like and at last they decide on two plain golden bands.

"Beauty in the simple," the jeweler nods and orders rings their sizes and with the day's date engraved.

They exit the shop, their smiles even bigger now and Derek can't help but laugh when they are outside. He pulls Stiles to his side and kisses his cheek.

"I love you," he whispers and Stiles beams at him.

"I love you too," he replies and this time they actually head for the car without any stops on the way.

 

They don't tell anyone about the engagement - well, Stiles probably tells Scott, but they have agreed to keep quiet about it until the rings come. They want it to be a surprise. Derek is mostly worried about how the sheriff will react, Derek is afraid he will think it's too soon. Maybe it is, but they have Maya and if they want to keep her this is the best solution. It might not be the right reason to get married, but Derek loves Stiles and he wants to spend the rest of his life with Stiles. He never felt that way with Jennifer and yet he lived with her for almost five years.

When the rings finally are done and they go get them at the jeweler's store Derek is quite nervous. They have agreed to go home to the sheriff for coffee after to see if his keen eyes notice the rings - he most likely will, he is after all the sheriff.

They arrive at the sheriff's house - the same house Stiles grew up in - and unload their small family of three. Derek carries Maya while Stiles walks first to the door. He knocks before he opens the door without waiting for an answer.

"Hello?" He calls into the house.

The sheriff emerges from the kitchen and smiles at them both.

"Let me take her," the sheriff says and holds out his hands for Maya. Derek hands her over and he notices how the sheriff's eyes stray to his hand and stay there for just a second too long. He then moves his eyes to Stiles' hand and then a huge smile breaks out on his face.

"When where you going to tell me, huh?" he asks and gets Maya out of her overall. His eyes and sparkling and he smiles broadly at them both.

"We just got the rings, we were waiting to see how long it would take for you to notice."

"You were the first one to find out," Derek adds and the sheriff looks pleased at this.

"I'm happy for you two. Congratulations."

They walk into the kitchen where the sheriff has coffee prepared - the sheriff carrying Maya and sitting down with her in his lap.

"I should have known there was a reason you two were going to come over here for coffee," the sheriff says, still smiling.

"What? Can't a guy just want to see his old man?"

"I know you, son," the sheriff laughs.

Stiles pretends to look offended at this and Derek laughs at him while the sheriff pours them coffee and hands them a Danish each.

"So when is the wedding?" the sheriff asks when they have all gotten their coffee and Danishes.

"We haven't really talked about that yet," Stiles says and fingers on his ring.

"But you are getting married?" the sheriff asks, "you're not just doing like them kids do these days, getting engaged but not getting married?"

"We are getting married," Derek and Stiles says at the same time and smile at each other then.

Derek feels a swoop of joy in his belly - a feeling that is now familiar to him and he's getting more and more used to it. He's not used to feeling this happy and content and can't help but wonder if the other shoe will drop . He hopes to God it won't.

"I'm so happy for you," the sheriff says again, as if his huge smile doesn't give that away. "Can I tell Melissa?"

Derek looks to Stiles.

"Not yet, I need to tell Scott first," Stiles says. "He will never forgive me if he hears it from his mom instead of me. Speaking of Scott, should we invite them over soon?"

Derek nods and Stiles picks up his phone to write a text message to his friend. Derek is honestly a bit surprised that Stiles apparently hasn't told Scott yet, Derek really thought that Stiles would tell Scott the first chance he would get. And it's not as if he hasn't met Scott since their engagement either - Scott was over just the other day to vaccinate some of the cats. Derek can't help but be happy about it though, it means that Stiles thinks highly of their vow not to tell anyone and therefore Stiles can be trusted with anything.

"I will keep quiet," the sheriff promises and mimes zipping his lips. Stiles smiles at him.

They leave shortly after that.

"Scott says they can come over tomorrow, does that work for you?" Stiles asks and Derek nods.

"It's not as if I have invited anyone else over," he says, he's not bitter even if it sounds rather bitter. But all of his friends are also Stiles' friends and Derek doesn't really have anyone to hang out with when Stiles is not around.

"Are you lonely?" Stiles asks as they get in the car to drive home.

"What? No!" Derek says because it's true, he's not lonely. Except for the times when Stiles isn't home. "I just... I think I would like to have some friends of my own, you know?"

Stiles nods.

"All of your friends were my friends first," he agrees and Derek wants to kiss him because he understands and doesn't make fun of Derek. "Maybe you can put up an ad in the paper?" Stiles then says and winks at Derek.

"Haha," Derek deadpans, "you're a funny guy."

"I know," Stiles smirks at him.

 

Scott and Allison come over the next day. Unlike the sheriff they don't spot the rings until they are way into dinner, despite Stiles' obvious hints and overuse of his hands - he always gestures a lot so maybe he only thinks he's being obvious. It's Allison, though, who spots the ring, but not on Stiles' hand but on Derek's when he feeds Maya.

"Have you always worn a ring?" she asks, "wait a minute."

She looks at Stiles, who sits with his hand under his chin, the ring on display. His smile is broad and if the rings didn't give their engagement, his smile sure would.

"Oh, my god!" Allison then squeals and gets up from the table to hug them - first Stiles and then Derek, despite the fact that Derek is feeding Maya. Scott looks confused, his jaw getting even more uneven than it usually is.

"Look at their hands," Allison says and pats Maya's head before she returns to her seat.

"What about their hands?" Scott says, staring intently at each of their hands.

"See anything unusual?" Stiles asks and holds up his left hand.

"You're wearing a ring..." Scott says. "Wait a minute, you're wearing a _ring_! And Derek's wearing one too!"

Derek smiles and nods.

"Oh, my god!" Scott squeals and then he's up and hugging Stiles. "You're getting married!"

"I'm getting married," Stiles laughs and lets Scott pick him up and spin him around.

Allison and Derek exchange meaning looks and laugh at them. Scott puts Stiles down on the floor again.

"And you," Scott turns to Derek. "Hand that baby to Stiles and hug me like a man."

Derek laughs but does as he's been told. Stiles happily accepts Maya and continues to feed her with the bottle. Derek gets up from his chair and lets Scott hug him.

"And if you hurt him, like leave him at the altar or something," Scott threatens but doesn't look very threatening. When Derek turns to Allison she looks a lot more terrifying and he nods at Scott, promising not to hurt Stiles. And he won't, not if he can help it.

 

Jackson is the next person to find out. He comes over one day when Stiles is at work and hands Derek a stack of papers.

"Here, I found them," he says and smiles innocently. Jackson is never innocent and Stiles has already told Derek that Jackson had just said that he didn't find the papers so Derek wouldn't sell the house and the shelter. Now that Derek is staying, Jackson obviously felt sure enough to hand over the papers.

"You did, did you?" Derek says in a deadpan voice and Jackson's sweet smile turns a bit more devious.

"What's that?" he asks then and Derek looks around, looking for what Jackson has fixed his eyes on. He notices then that Jackson isn't looking behind Derek but _at_ him. Or more correctly, at his hand. "Don't tell me Stiles managed to convince you to marry him. You must be high."

Derek sighs and smiles at Jackson, a bit deviously himself.

"What makes you think I'm the one that needed convincing?" he asks.

"Because you dress okay," is Jackson's answer and Derek laughs at that. "What? It's true. I'm not saying you dress good, but okay."

"Thank you," Derek says sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Jackson replies, missing the sarcasm. Or ignoring it.

Derek spends that afternoon reading through the papers while Skyping with Laura and playing with Maya. He signs the papers and Laura agrees to give him her share of the house. It doesn't feel right but Laura says that he should consider it to be her wedding present. She says she will talk to Cora and have Cora give her share to Derek as well.

"I've signed the papers so now I'm the official owner of the house and the shelter," Derek tells Stiles when Stiles gets home that evening.

"What? That's awesome! I'm so glad!" Stiles cheers and hugs and kisses Derek.

"I didn't know you would be this happy," Derek says and Stiles smiles.

"Before I was never sure if you were going to leave, maybe it got too much with a kid and a fiancé and..."

"Never," Derek says and holds Stiles to his chest. "I'm in this in the long run."

When he says the words he feels that he means it, he means it with all his heart.

"Through better or worse?" Stiles asks and Derek nods.

"Through sickness and health," he says seriously, but can't help that his lips twitch.

"I love you," Stiles tells him seriously and Derek smiles and sighs happily.

"I love you too," Derek says and kisses Stiles again. "I love you so much."

Maya chooses that moment to scream because she has been ignored for too long. Derek laughs against Stiles' lips.

"I'll go get her," Stiles says and a few seconds later Derek hears Stiles coo at her in the living room.

 

Lydia calls later that night and Derek can hear how excited she is even through Stiles' phone. Stiles looks slightly terrified and he talks to Lydia - mostly listens - for a long time that evening. When he finally gets off the phone he looks as if he doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"Lydia is planning our wedding," he says. "Apparently we will have a spring wedding."

Derek laughs and Stiles laughs hollowly too.

"She has so many ideas about color schemes and whatnot," Stiles says and Derek hugs him.

"It will be okay, just smile and nod."

Stiles laughs and Derek kisses him.

"If we just let her decide everything, it will be fine."

 

It's not fine though. Apparently Lydia wants them in on the planning even though she rejects any and all of their ideas. She decides the color scheme should be blue because it's apparently Stiles' favorite color and they both look good in purple. Derek feels stupid for not knowing Stiles' favorite color and vows to ask about this when they get home. Lydia has them for a whole day of planning while the sheriff is watching Maya. At first they go to the tailor to look at different suits. Derek already has a suit but apparently he needs a tailored one for his wedding. The tailor takes their measurements and they decide on what kind of suits they are going to wear. After the tailor's they go to eat lunch at the pub. Lydia orders a salad and glares at Derek and Stiles for ordering burgers.

"She's probably just jealous," Stiles whispers to Derek, just loud enough for Lydia to hear. Lydia sends him a sour look and then proceeds to talk about the wedding - Derek really thought they would get a break from it when they were eating but apparently not. She talks about flower arrangements and how to set the table and Derek didn't know there were this many things to a freaking wedding.

"I don't regret getting married to you," Stiles says when Lydia goes to the bathroom, "but I regret not sneaking off and just do it instead of telling Lydia about it."

Derek laughs but agrees.

After dinner they go to the bakery to taste and look at cakes. The bakery has a thick file with different types and have made a few for them to taste - after Lydia's instructions, of course.

They both agree on the chocolate one and Lydia looks kind of pissed at this.

"But this one," she points to one that Derek at least didn't care much for.

"Lydia, it's my freaking wedding, can I at least have the cake I want?"

Lydia pouts but at last she agrees on the cake.

"Jackson doesn't want to get married," Stiles tells Derek later when they are on their way home, "I think that's a sour spot for Lydia. And she didn't get to plan Allison and Scott's wedding because Allison's mom is scary and a control freak. I guess she sees this as her only chance."

Derek hums.

"Then we should let her have it, I don't care much about the wedding," Derek says and Stiles looks a bit sad. "I care about you, about being married to you, but not so much about the wedding."

Stiles lightens up at that.

"If we let Lydia plan it then at least we know we will get a beautiful wedding."

"You're right," Stiles nods and takes Derek's hand and brings it up to his lips to kiss it while he's driving. "I would say that any wedding with you would be beautiful but your way works too."

Derek laughs and entangles their fingers.

"It will be beautiful," he says and Stiles hums in agreement.

"Wait a minute," Stiles says when they get home and Derek looks at him in confusion. "Haven't we forgotten something?"

"What?" Derek asks and wonders what Stiles means.

"Maya," Stiles says and Derek can't help but laugh and feel ashamed at the same time.

"Oh, my god," Stiles says and giggles as he turns around the car to drive back into town. "We forgot our baby."

The words 'our baby' still sends a feeling of joy through Derek's body and he laughs with Stiles at the same time as he feels like a horrible parent.

They hurry to the sheriff's house and don't mention that they forgot Maya at first. The sheriff doesn't ask, he never knew what time they would be finished on because they didn't know either.

"At least we didn't forget her at the grocery store or something like that," Stiles says and Derek supposes he's right even though he feels bad about forgetting about her at all.

 

They get a call late one evening about a dog that has fallen down a well.

"They sometimes call about things like this and we go out to see if we can help out and if the dog hasn't gotten a chip to identify it so the owner can be found, the animal gets to come with us home," Stiles explains.

Derek goes alone this time as someone has to stay at home to watch Maya. He doesn't have trouble finding the place with the GPS and the fire department already being there. He meets up with Scott who's also been called in to check the status of the dog.

"I hope it's okay," Scott says as they wait for the firemen to get the dog up from the well. When they finally succeed Derek's cold all over, but mostly his toes and fingers but when he spots the shaking dog he thinks that it's nothing to what it is experiencing. Scott wraps it up in a towel and examines it quickly.

"She looks to be in good condition despite what's happened to her," he tells Derek. "She probably hasn't been there too long. She's not dehydrated. She's cold but nothing that some hot water won't be able to fix."

"Good," Derek nods.

"I have checked for a chip or any kind of identification mark but there are none, sadly."

"Okay."

Derek gets to take the dog with him home and Stiles is waiting for him at the shelter. They quickly put the dog in the shower and showers it with warm water.

"Poor thing," Stiles says and Derek notices how his white t-shirt is now see-through as it's all wet and he is quite glad that he gets to have that body and those perky nipples.

"What are you staring at?" Stiles asks when he notices Derek's looks.

"You," Derek smirks. "I can see your nipples."

"God, I hate my perky nipples," Stiles tries to cover them up but Derek laughs.

"Don't," he says. "I love them."

"You're weird," Stiles retaliates but he's smiling. "Perv."

Once the dog is clean and warm the wrap it up in a towel to dry it and take it with them to the kitchen.

"She should probably stay with us tonight so we can keep track of her," Stiles says and Derek nods. The dog gets to sleep on the floor in a basket Stiles finds somewhere.

They sleep peacefully all through the night.

They name the dog Emily and she gets to stay with them in the house because she whines whenever they try to put her in a cage, even when she gets company in said cage. She's some kind of mix, Stiles says, but she looks a bit like a grey border collie, Derek thinks.

At first Emily isn't too fond of Dylan and Tyler but after a while she starts warming up to them and soon they even sleep together at the end of the bed - despite Derek saying that animals (except for Oliver, of course) shouldn't be allowed in the bed.

One day a woman comes to visit and says she wants to adopt a cat.

"Come on in," Derek says and shows her through the kitchen and to the shelter.

"I want a red one," she says and even if Oliver is red, Derek says that they have none. They look at all the cats and the woman doesn't seem to really find anyone she likes.

"Maybe you want to think about it and come back another day," Derek suggests. She nods but doesn't look convinced.

"I saw a red cat outside," the woman says hesitantly when they are by the door and she's just about to leave.

"Oliver," Derek nods, "he's not for sale."

"Oh, it was him I saw on the webpage," the woman says. "I want him, has he been adopted?"

"I'm afraid so," Derek nods again. Stiles is going to kill him for lying but he can't let anyone adopt Oliver, Oliver belongs to him, he realizes.

"By whom?"

"By me," Derek tells the woman honestly and she sighs and pouts.

"It's a very fine cat," she says, "I fell for him the moment I saw him."

"I did too," Derek admits and the woman smiles at him.

"I'll look through the webpage again," she promises before she leaves.

Derek walks back inside and wonders how the hell he's going to tell Stiles that apparently they have bought another cat.

Stiles is, surprisingly, not angry when Derek tells him that Oliver is no longer a shelter cat. Not when Derek sighs and says, "I couldn't stand the thought to let him be adopted."

"Welcome to the club," Stiles smiles. He hugs him and kisses his cheek. "Norma used to say that you ain't a true animal friend if you don't adopt an animal yourself."

Derek smiles and picks up Oliver from the kitchen bench.

"You hear that, buddy? Now you're never leaving."

Oliver purrs and butts his head against Derek's chin.

 

One night they get the sheriff and Melissa to babysit Maya while they go out with Stiles' friends. They go to a nearby town and eat at a restaurant before they go to a club. Derek notices people watching Stiles and puts a hand around his waist, just to show them that Stiles is off limits. Most of them seem to catch on to Derek's message. Stiles continues to joke with Scott and doesn't notice anything, but Lydia notices something, her green eyes calculating but her red lips smile at Derek.

"Don't worry," she mouths at Derek and he smiles back but lets his arm stay around Stiles' waist.

Suddenly someone bumps into them and Derek almost drops the beer bottle he's holding. He turns around, prepared to act but calms down when he recognizes the person behind him.

"Sorry, so sorry," deputy Parrish says and holds up both hands in apology.

"Don't worry about it," Derek says. Stiles turns around and smiles at the deputy.

"Jordan, nice to see you out of the uniform," he says and Derek mock-glares at his fiancé. Jordan laughs though.

"Nice to see you out at all," he says and Stiles laughs.

"Yeah, we finally managed to get a baby-sitter."

"I guess the sheriff was quite hard to talk into that, huh?" Jordan winks at Stiles.

"Nah, he adores Maya," Stiles says.

"I know, he brags about her any chance he gets. Did you know he has a photo of her on his desk?"

"I didn't even know he knew how to develop photos," Stiles admits and laughs. "You helped him, didn't you?"

Jordan laughs and holds up his hands.

"Guilty as charged," he laughs, then he sobers up. "It was actually good I met you, I've been thinking of getting a dog. You can probably help me out with that, can't you?"

"Of course. You can come by whenever, Derek is mostly home. Or you can call first. But we're home most of the time."

"Good," Jordan smiles. "I should get back to my friends. See you!"

"Bye."

Stiles turns to Derek.

"He's nice, don't you think?"

Derek shrugs.

"I guess, why?"

"You can become his friend."

Derek rolls his eyes but Stiles doesn't relent.

"I'm serious," he says, "you can totally become friends with him. Dad says he doesn't have any family and he probably only has work friends. You can be his non-work friend."

Derek sighs and wishes Stiles would drop the subject. He doesn't know how to just become someone's friend like that.

"Okay, I'll drop it," Stiles agrees to Derek's silent plea, "but think about it, okay?"

Derek nods and knows he will most likely think about it even if he doesn't really want to.

 

Deputy Parrish - or Jordan as he insist on being called - calls a few days later when Stiles is at work.

"I was wondering if I could come by to look at the dogs you have?" he asks.

"I'm home all day, drop by whenever you want."

"I'll come by in an hour or so," Jordan promises and they hang up.

As promised, Jordan arrives barely an hour later.

"Hang on, I'm just going to pick up Maya," Derek tells him and Jordan smiles and makes a go ahead gesture with his hands. Derek fastens the baby carrier to his chest and picks up Maya to fasten her into it. She makes a content noise and grabs onto his shirt with both her tiny hands.

"She's gotten so big," Jordan says and Derek nods.

"I think she grows an inch a day," he jokes and Jordan laughs politely. "Come on, let's go look on the dogs. Emily, stay here," he tells Emily who wags her tail and wants to come with them.

"Isn't this beauty up for adoption?" Jordan asks and bends down to pat Emily.

"Not yet," Derek tells him. "She's not vaccinated yet."

"Too bad," Jordan says.

"We can go look at the other dogs," Derek tells him and Jordan nods but sends a second glance to Emily. Derek vows to himself to talk to Stiles about it, maybe they can come up with an arrangement of some kind?

Jordan pats all the dogs and seems to like them all well enough, but he sighs and looks forlorn.

"Too bad Emily isn't up for adoption yet."

"I can talk to Stiles," Derek tells him, "maybe we can come up with some arrangement so you can adopt her."

"That's very kind of you," Jordan's face breaks out into a smile and he looks happier than when he had patted the other dogs.

"Would you like to go see her again?"

"I'd love to."

They go back to the kitchen where Emily is sitting, waiting for them.

"She sleeps in our bed," Derek tells Jordan. "I said no dogs in the bed but Tyler and Dylan," Derek points to Stiles' two little hooligans that lie in the basket, "were already allowed in bed and then it was quite hard to tell Emily no."

Jordan laughs and bends down to pat Emily's head. She wags her whole butt because her tail is wagging so much.

Derek stands awkwardly in the kitchen watching them for a while. Jordan really seems to like Emily and it would be a pity if they wouldn't get to have each other. Derek thinks of what Stiles said about him needing new friends and how he suggested Jordan. He shifts his foot awkwardly and then asks,

"Would you like some coffee?"

Jordan looks up and smile.

"If it's no trouble for you?"

"None at all," Derek smiles and puts on a pot of coffee.

They talk about Emily and the shelter over coffee and Derek feels himself relax more as Jordan laughs and talks about something funny that happened on his job as a deputy. Derek can't help but hope that maybe he and Jordan can be friends. When the coffee is gone Jordan gets up from the table.

"Thank you," he tells Derek, "This was nice."

"Yeah, it was," Derek smiles and wonders how to ask Jordan if they can meet again.

"Maybe I can come back and play with Emily some day?" Jordan asks and Derek nods.

"Sure," he says. "I'm home alone most days and wouldn't mind some company. Maybe we could take her for a walk."

"I would love that," Jordan smiles. "Well, see you. I'll call you."

Derek nods and waves goodbye. Maya has fallen asleep against his chest sometime during coffee and he moves her to her crib instead. She makes a sound when he moves her but doesn't wake up. Derek watches her sleeping for some time before he goes to the kitchen to take care of the dishes.

When Stiles gets home he tells Stiles about the meeting with Jordan.

"He fell for Emily," Derek tells him.

"Really?" Stiles says and pats Emily's head as she stands next to him.

"Yeah, I thought maybe we could make some arrangement so he can adopt her?"

Stiles looks thoughtful and then nods after a while.

"If he promises that she gets her vaccinated I can't see why not," he nods. "So what more did you do today?"

"Jordan stayed for coffee," Derek says and Stiles' expression brightens.

"That's awesome," he says.

"Hold you horses," Derek laughs at him. Stiles laughs but comes up to hug him.

"No, but it is. You can be best buddies and he can be your best man at the wedding."

"I thought Laura would be my best man. Woman, whatever."

Stiles sighs and looks thoughtful.

"Anyway," he says after a while, "you need people your own age to hang out with."

"Are you saying I'm old?"

"You said it," Stiles winks at him and Derek laughs, feeling exhilarated.

"Anyway, we agreed that he would come back and walk Emily some time."

"That's awesome," Stiles says again. "You can lure him in with your dog walks and great coffee."

Derek laughs and lets Stiles kiss him.

"He'll love you in no time," Stiles nods against his lips.

"So that's what I did to you, is it?"

"No, that's what _I_ did to you," Stiles says.

"Your coffee sucks," Derek retaliates, pressing a kiss to Stiles' lips.

"Yeah, I know," Stiles sighs. "It was just the dog walks then."

"Or just you," Derek smiles and Stiles smiles back, his eyes shining happily.

"Just me?"

"Just you," Derek replies and Stiles kisses him again.

 

Jordan calls again a few days later.

"I was wondering if you're up for that walk you promised me," he asks.

"Sure," Derek says. "You can come by any time today."

"Awesome," Jordan says and Derek wonders if he might have been hanging out with Stiles, Stiles does say awesome a lot. "I'll come by in half an hour."

Jordan arrives on time today too and they take Emily along with three of the shelter dogs out for a walk. Molly, Dylan and Tyler are, as always, there too, but walk without leashes.

"The sheriff told me you and Stiles were getting married," Jordan tells Derek. Derek nods and smiles, just thinking about how he gets to spend the rest of his life with Stiles - and hopefully Maya as well. "Congratulations then," Jordan continues and smiles. "How does it feel?"

"Awesome," Derek says and now who's been hanging out too much with Stiles? Derek can't even find it in himself to feel sorry about that though.

"I'm glad," Jordan says. "Stiles has had a rough life, but you already know that, don't you?"

Derek nods but wonders what Jordan means. Stiles has told Derek about how his mother died of dementia when Stiles was sixteen but Derek has a feeling this is more than a parent dying.

"I wasn't here for the worst of it," Jordan continues. "But the other deputies have told me about the OD and... it was bad. I'm glad he's better now."

Derek wants to ask what overdose Jordan is talking about, but can't open his mouth. Stiles has taken an overdose? Or did the sheriff overdose? Derek can't picture any of them using any kinds of drugs. The sheriff likes scotch, Derek knows but... Stiles isn't drinking alcohol, probably because he's been taking an overdose some time before Derek came along. Why hasn't Stiles told him about this?

Derek walks as in a mist the rest of the walk and hopes he keeps it together well enough for Jordan not to notice, but he's not sure.

When Stiles gets home Derek has prepared a speech on how he loves him and doesn't care but how he would have liked to have known about it earlier. That speech disappears when Stiles gets home.

"Why didn't you tell me you overdosed?"

"What?" stiles asks and looks terrified. He's pale and his eyes are huge. "Who told you?"

"Jordan."

"He shouldn't have," Stiles says angrily. "He wasn't even here, he shouldn't even know. I guess people talk about it still though."

"But you don't," Derek states and feels the anger rise. Stiles hadn't told him about something as important as an overdose.

"It's in the past."

"You don't think I have the right to know just because it's in the past?"

"You don't," Stiles says and Derek feels the air leave him.

"I'm your fiancé, I think I have the right to know-"

"No, it's in the past, it doesn't matter."

"It's a huge deal, why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I don't want to be a failure!" Stiles suddenly shouts. "I didn't want you to know because I'm ashamed okay? I didn't want you to know that I'm weak and-"

Stiles sniffles and Derek feels all the fight run out of him.

"Stiles, I-"

"I started hanging out with the wrong people," Stiles tells him quietly, hugging his own body. "I wasn't depressed or anything. I didn't mean to OD. It just happened. My dad... my dad, he was furious. I can see now that he was only worried. Scott cried for ages, it was horrible. I got into rehab and have been clean since then."

"Stiles, I'm sorry, I-"

"It's okay," Stiles sniffles and Derek walks up to hug him. "How can you still hug me?" Stiles whispers and Derek kisses his forehead and hugs him tighter.

"I love you, remember?" he whispers. "I love you, no matter what you have done in your past."

"I love you too," Stiles sobs and Derek hugs him for a long time.

"I'm sorry I got angry," he says after a while. "I just... I didn't like hearing this huge thing from Jordan when you hadn't told me about it."

"I get it," Stiles nods and kisses Derek. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Stiles laughs slightly and leans their foreheads together.

"Thank you for staying."

"Of course I would stay."

Stiles smiles.

"My girlfriend didn't when I OD'd."

"That's horrible," Derek says but is silently pleased that Stiles is his now.

"It was, but I'm okay now," Stiles says. "This was four years ago. "

"That's not a very long time," Derek says but Stiles shrugs.

"Enough time."

Derek nods and kisses him again.

"Anyway," Stiles says and his eyes twinkle again, "I have the most gorgeous man now."

"I'm glad," Derek laughs and Stiles laughs too.

 

It's late one night and Derek and Stiles are in the living room, snuggling in front of the TV when they hear the door opens and someone step inside. Stiles is almost asleep so Derek gets up to see who it is. It's obviously someone they know as the door opened without anyone knocking first.

"Lydia?" Derek asks in surprise when he sees Lydia in front of the door. She looks up at him and her mascara has run down her cheeks - it's obvious that she's been crying.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go," she sobs.

"What happened?" Derek asks and thinks about Jackson being hurt - or worse, dead.

"Jackson has had an affair with his secretary. It's been going on for years."

"I- I'm so sorry," Derek says, unsure what to say. "Come in, would you like some tea?"

Lydia nods and shrugs out of her coat and steps out of her high heels.

"I'm sorry," she says again, "I didn't know where else to go."

"It's okay, you can stay here, we have an extra bed," Derek says, suddenly glad that they haven't had time to renovate Norma's old room just yet.

Lydia nods in thanks and accepts the cup of tea Derek makes for her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Derek asks after a while of awkward silence. Lydia shakes her head but then opens her mouth.

"I can't believe him," she sobs. "I just..."

Derek nods and pats her back, unsure of what else to do. He wishes Stiles could wake up and come and take over, but it seems he's not as lucky.

After Lydia's talked for a bit and drunk her tea , Derek helps her set up Norma's old room and she goes to bed. Derek goes to fetch Stiles who's lying on his belly on the couch, sound asleep.

"Stiles," Derek shakes him gently.

Stiles tries to shove him away but eventually he wakes up.

"Whassit?" he asks groggily and Derek can't help but smile before he turns serious to tell Stiles what has happened.

"Lydia is here," he tells Stiles in a low voice. "Jackson has been cheating on her. She was quite upset."

"Where is she?" Stiles sits up and looks around, as if expecting Lydia to hide behind the couch.

"She's in Norma's old room," Derek says.

"I should go talk to her."

Stiles gets up from the couch and kisses Derek before he goes to knock softly on the door to Lydia's room.  Derek watches Stiles step inside and then goes to get ready for bed. To Derek's surprise, Stiles returns not many minutes later. Stiles is smiling at him and Derek wonders what he's so happy about.

"What?" he asks and Stiles' smile get broader.

"She said you're a great listener," he says and Derek feels his cheeks heat up at the praise.

"I didn't do much," he says, which is true.

"But you did the right thing apparently," Stiles says and Derek smiles before getting into bed. Stiles crawls in next to him after brushing his teeth.

"I'm proud of you," he says.

"Why?" Derek asks, "Because I handled a crying Lydia?"

"Yeah, that's something," Stiles smiles and kisses him.

 

Lydia stays at home the next day and help Derek with the animals and Maya. Derek thought it would be awkward to spend time alone with Lydia, but to his surprise it isn't. They talk about the wedding, Maya, the animals and Stiles' childhood.

"In high school Stiles had this idea that I was the love of his life," Lydia tells Derek as they are walking the dogs. The sun is shining on the white snow, making it sparkle. It's a beautiful day.

"He hasn't told me," Derek says and doesn't know if he should be hurt or not. Lydia laughs.

"He's probably forgotten about it," she says and shrugs. "He had a ten year plan to woo me, he's told me afterwards. Or if Scott told me, I don't remember."

"A ten year plan?"

"Mhm. He was such a romantic at that time, I think he's grown out of it."

Derek thinks about Stiles' proposal and laughs.

"I think so too," he says. "He proposed outside the social service office."

Lydia laughs at that, surprised.

"He never told me, though I never asked."

Derek hums and they walk in silence for a while, though it's not uncomfortable.

"What was he like, Stiles, when he grew up?"

"I've only known him since high school," Lydia tells him, "back then he was this hyperactive little shit. He got himself in trouble for talking back to the teachers. I don't think he meant any harm, he just was really bad at controlling himself."

Derek nods, "His ADD probably didn't help."

"No, it probably didn't," Lydia laughs. "We weren't really friends back then. Allison moved here... when was it? Sophomore year maybe? She and I became friends and then she and Scott became a couple. Stiles was just Scott's annoying friend who sometimes hung out with us."

"When did you become friends then?" Derek asks. Lydia and Stiles seemed so different, while they both were smart that seemed to be the only thing they had in common.

"I guess we became close sometime after high school, I was maid of honor and Stiles best man at Allison and Scott's wedding so I guess we became closer then."

Derek nods and watches as Dylan and Tyler run off into a pile of snow. Molly runs after them and the dogs Derek is holding tugs at their leashes wanting to play as well.

"I'm really glad he's found you," Lydia tells Derek in a quiet voice. When Derek turns to her she's watching the dogs play with a small smile. "He deserves someone who makes him happy and he deserves to make someone happy. I'm really glad you came here."

"Me too," Derek says seriously. "We should head back and let the dogs play in the yard."

Lydia nods and they turn around to walk the same way back. As they head back, Derek tells Lydia about the time Chi the llama spat at him. He had sworn not to tell anyone so he doesn't know quite what hit him to make him tell Lydia about it. Lydia laughs and the sadness that's been around her eyes disappear somewhat and Derek's glad he told her.

They don't talk about Jackson at all that day.

 

Lydia comes into the kitchen later that night when Stiles is making dinner and Derek is playing with Maya. She looks tired and a bit sad.

"You okay?" Stiles asks and Lydia shrugs. Derek notices that she's holding her phone in both her hands.

"Jackson has resigned. He leaved in papers today," she tells them and she looks about to cry but then she takes a deep breath and collects herself. "He and Helen are moving away together apparently."

"Lydia, I'm so-" Stiles begins.

"Yeah, yeah," she says and waves her hand. "Jackson will be out of our apartment in a week."

"That's... good?" Stiles says questioningly.

Lydia nods.

"Yeah, I guess. Can I stay here in the meantime? I would take in on a hotel but..."

"Are there any hotels here?" Derek asks.

Lydia and Stiles laugh at him, as if that's the most stupid question they have ever heard. And maybe it is.

"I guess not then," Derek answers his own question.

"I could stay with mom but I would rather stay here..."

"Of course," Derek and Stiles say at the same time.

"You guys are the best," Lydia says and pats Derek's head where he's sitting on the floor before hugging Stiles. "Thank you so much!"

"You know we're there for you, Lyds," Stiles says and smiles at her. She smiles back and pats his cheek - a bit condescendingly, in Derek's opinion - before she leaves the kitchen. "Dinner's in ten," Stiles calls after her and she laughs.

"You guys are the best, I'm telling you," she calls back and Stiles laughs.

 

Jordan comes by a few days later when Lydia and Derek are at home again. Lydia has told him she worked through pneumonia so she can afford to take a few sick days. She doesn't want to meet Jackson before he leaves, she will probably skin him alive if she does, she tells Derek seriously and Derek doesn't doubt that that is a possible outcome. If Jackson hadn't been cheating on Lydia Derek would have felt sorry for him.

Jordan and Lydia seem to get along almost frighteningly well and if Derek's not mistaken Jordan is watching Lydia with admiration when she's not noticing. It's probably too soon for Lydia to start something serious but why not a rebound? Though Derek's rebound turned out quite differently from what he expected so he's no expert on them.

"I hear you help plan Derek and Stiles' wedding?" Jordan asks Lydia as they walk all three in line, Derek pushing Maya's stroller.

"Yeah, they need me. If it was up to them they would get married in sweatpants and plaids."

"I beg to differ," Derek says, "I would at least wear jeans to my wedding."

Lydia laughs and hugs his arm.

"I'm sure you would, sweetie, but now you're both going to look fabulous."

"When's the wedding by the way?" Jordan asks.

"March the twenty-third," Derek and Lydia both answer and smile at each other.

"That's soon, it's already February," Jordan says and Derek nods.

"Are you nervous?"

"Not really," Derek answers.

"I am," Lydia says and Derek and Jordan laugh. "I'm serious. There's so much that need to click."

"You'll do great, Lydia, I know you will," Derek tells her fondly and she sighs and mutters something about 'men', but she looks pleased.

They head back and start talking about lacrosse for some reason. Jordan, being an outsider just like Derek, had never heard of lacrosse before he moved here. He still hasn't gone to a single game though.

"When the season starts up in April you should go with us," Derek tells him and Lydia nods excitingly.

Jordan nods too and smiles at them both.

"I look forward to it," he says. He fiddles with Emily's leash some and then continues, "This is nice, just talking walks and hanging out."

Derek nods and wonders why Jordan's so nervous all the sudden.

"Would you mind if I came by even after I have adopted Emily?"

"No, not at all," Derek smiles. "I don't have that many friends here."

Lydia clears her throat pointedly and Derek laughs and hugs her with one arm.

"I don't have many friends that aren't Stiles' friends first."

"I don't have any friends outside of work," Jordan tells them.

"Well, now we are your friends," Lydia says and Jordan looks surprised but pleased. "Has Derek told you about that time Chi the llama spat at him?" Lydia continues, changing the subject.

"Lydia," Derek says but he's laughing. "I told you that in confidence."

"And I'm telling Jordan in confidence."

Derek can't help but laugh at that.

"Tell me more," Jordan says, laughing as well.


	8. Chapter 8

March arrives with rain and cold winds but as the wedding approaches it gets warmer and birds start singing in the trees.

Stiles is oddly calm about the wedding. He always thought that if he ever were to get married he would be a complete mess but he's not. At least not yet. Scott is taking his best man mission seriously and fixes a bachelor party for Stiles three nights before the wedding. Derek is to stay home with Maya and Laura who flew in yesterday. Derek doesn't know about it but Laura has planned a bachelor party for him as well the night after.

They go to the local pub where Scott has booked a table for them. Stiles gets to see the few friends he has from college along with his friends from high school. Lydia and Allison are there as well. The only person missing is Jackson and even if he had been invited to the wedding he hasn't responded. Stiles thinks that might be for the best even if he is going to miss their gift exchanges for Christmas and birthdays.

It's a nice and fun evening, quite calm. Nothing like Stiles would have thought when he was a teenager. Back then he thought he would marry Lydia so things change apparently. Now he can't imagine marrying anyone else.

"So Stiles," Lydia says loudly to shut down everyone else. "Tell us about the proposal."

"Yeah," people chime in.

Stiles rubs his neck awkwardly, wishing he at least could have bought Derek dinner or something a bit more romantic instead of just popping the question outside of the social service office.

"Who went down on one knee?" Malia, a friend from college asks over the cheers.

"I always go down on my knees," Stiles says and winks at her. She catcalls along with the rest and Stiles wonders what on earth made him say that. "No, but seriously, I asked him."

"How? More details," Allison calls out and the others agree.

"We were outside the social services office - god, I wish this was more romantic but it's the truth. Janet, the woman working on Maya's case, had just told us it would be easier to adopt Maya if we were married so I didn't think, I just asked Derek if he would like to marry me. He said yes."

"That is so unromantic," Malia pouts and Stiles laughs.

"I know, but it's the truth."

"Well, to Stiles and Derek," Scott says, holding up his glass for a toast.

"To Stiles and Derek," the others echo.

 

Derek's younger sister Cora comes in the next day. Derek, Maya and Laura go to get her at the train station while Stiles stays at home, nurturing a headache. He's never drinking again. The noises are too loud and the lights too bright.

Cora reminds him of Laura except she has brown eyes instead of Laura and Derek's pale, green eyes. The dark hair is the same though.

"Hurt my brother and I will _end_ you," she whispers to Stiles while pretending to give him a hug. She smiles sweetly at him once the hug has ended and Stiles has no doubt she means it. She falls immediately in love with Maya, just like everyone else, and carries her around all day until it's time for Stiles and Maya to leave for Stiles' dad's house while the others prepare for the bachelor party.

"What?" Derek asks, "Where are you going?"

"Have fun, sweetie," Stiles tells him and kisses him goodbye and goodnight. "Say bye to papa, Maya. We'll see him tomorrow."

Stiles spends the night with his dad watching police shows on TV and complaining about all the things they do wrong - one of their favorite things to do together.

"Are you nervous?" John asks in the commercial and Stiles shrugs.

"Not really, mostly excited. Lydia has everything under control."

"I'm sure she does," John nods.

"Were you nervous?" Stiles asks. "When you and mom got married?"

"Yeah, at the reception I was so nervous to make any mistakes or say the wrong name or something. But the wedding felt right. I felt as if it was the right thing to do to spend my life with that woman."

"That's how I feel with Derek."

"I really hope you two get more years than me and your mom got," John smiles sadly.

Stiles swallows the sudden lump in his throat.

"I hope so too."

Stiles thinks of his mother and how quickly she forgot everything about both Stiles and her husband. He hopes he never has to relive that and hopes he himself will stay healthy until he's a hundred years old, then he wants to die in Derek's arms when they are sleeping.

"Well, that was a happy topic we chose," Stiles sniffles and his dad laughs heartily.

"I'm sorry, son, I'm so happy for you and Derek. I hope you get to keep Maya as well. She's an angel."

"She sure is, she is almost never sad," Stiles says.

John smiles and lets Stiles tell him about what Maya did the other day.

 

On the day of the wedding Stiles wakes up alone in his old bed in his dad's house. Derek and Maya are staying at their house along with Laura and Cora. Stiles hadn't felt nervous before but now he suddenly feels a boost of nerves, he guesses that's only normal. As he eats breakfast with his dad he wonders if Lydia has got everything under control and he considers calling her.

"Relax, son," John says, "you're more jumpy than you were before you got started on your meds."

"Psh," Stiles tells him. John laughs at that.

"It'll be okay," he says.

Stiles believes him but can't help but wonder what he's gotten himself into. He and Derek barely know each other, what if Derek turns out to have some really weird hobbies? What if he's a serial killer? Or what if he just realizes that what he feels for Stiles isn't love at all?

The time flies by and suddenly he's at the church getting ready. He meets Derek outside the church and Stiles can't help but steal a kiss from Derek. He looks beautiful and Stiles can't believe that gorgeous man wants to marry him. They can make this work, Stiles thinks with a smile.

What if Derek says no though? Derek is smiling at him and takes his hand and Stiles is just being silly, Derek won't say no.

They walk down the aisle slowly and smile at all their friends and family members. The church is barely half-full, none of them having that many friends or family members but Stiles looks around and everyone he wants to see is there. He smiles at Scott at the front and Laura who stands on the other side of the priest, holding Maya. Next to Laura is Cora and she's smiling at Stiles and Derek, her eyes filled to the brim with tears just like Laura and Scott's eyes are.

Stiles doesn't really notice what the priest is saying, he just acknowledges that he's talking. When they get to the part where Stiles is supposed to speak he does so, saying those two words that mean so much.

"I do," he answers the priest, who then turns to Derek, who squeezes Stiles' hand before he answers,

"I do."

Stiles doesn't really listen again until the priest tell them that they can kiss. Stiles turns to Derek and kisses him hard on the mouth. His husband. Derek is Stiles' husband. Stiles can't believe he's this lucky. They'll pull through anything and everything.

 

The party afterwards is a success. Lydia has really outdone herself. Stiles sits by Derek's side all night and he can't stop smiling. Derek is smiling too and they even dance with each other and other guests. They both dance at least once with Lydia, Laura and Cora.

"I can't believe my brother's gotten married," Laura cries and laughs against Stiles' shoulder as they dance. Stiles laughs and pats her back. She's already cried enough that day.

"I can't believe _I_ have gotten married," Stiles tells her. She smiles broadly at him through her tears of joy.

"I can't believe you have found each other," she says. "I'm so happy for the both of you. You take care of my brother, alright?"

Stiles nods seriously, "I will."

"Good," Laura pats Stiles' shoulder and they continue to dance. Stiles isn't that good a dancer when it comes to traditional dances so he can't really talk and dance at the same time, neither can Laura it seems.

They stay up late that night until it's time to go home. Stiles' dad has taken care of Maya so they have the house to themselves that night. Derek carries a laughing Stiles over the threshold to the house and Stiles kisses his cheek.

"Thank you, hubby," he says as Derek lowers him back to the floor once they are inside.

"Don't you ever call me that again," Derek warns him and Stiles laughs.

"What? Hubby? I think it's cute."

"I think it's obnoxious," Derek retaliates.

"I think you are obnoxious," Stiles says and Derek laughs at him and pulls him close.

"You're obnoxious," Derek says and kisses him. Stiles isn't sure Derek knows the meaning of the word because normally you don't kiss obnoxious people. Though Stiles can agree with him, he _is_ obnoxious so he guesses he should be glad that Derek's kissing him anyway.

"Let's get you into bed and out of these clothes," Derek whispers, his voice rougher and darker than usual.

Stiles can feel his body respond immediately, pulse going up and blood rushing to certain body parts.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Stiles whispers and Derek picks him up again as if he weights nothing and carries him to their bedroom. He puts Stiles down on the bed gently and covers Stiles' body with his own while kissing him.

"This marriage thing really is great," Stiles mumbles as Derek starts to unbutton his shirt.

"I can't agree more," Derek nods in agreement as he kisses the skin that's revealed. Stiles shivers and closes his eyes as Derek's kisses go lower down on his body. Soon he's at the waistband of Stiles' trousers, pressing open-mouthed kisses just above the waistline. Stiles groans and fists his hand in Derek's hair.

"You're a very good husband," he tells his husband - his _husband_ \- while looking up at the ceiling.

"Mhm," Derek hums against Stiles' skin and unbuttons Stiles' pants way too slowly for Stiles' liking.

When the pants finally come off Stiles is almost so relieved he might cry. He doesn't though because then Derek continues his kissing down Stiles body and presses kisses to his groin, just to the side of where Stiles _really_ would want his mouth.  Then, after years of pleasurable torture Derek finally takes Stiles' cock into his mouth. Stiles might actually weep then. He does, at least, cry out. At first he thinks he need to be quiet not to wake Maya but then he remembers that they are alone in the house and removes the hand from his mouth. They are alone and have all the time in the world.

Derek really takes his sweet time licking up and down Stiles' shaft and Stiles is almost sobbing when the first finger enters him. Derek slowly prepares him while sucking him slowly into his mouth. It's the most wonderful torture Stiles has ever had the pleasure of receiving.

When Derek finally enters him it's like everything from the day falls into place. Derek is his husband and he's making love to Stiles in such a sweet and gentle way.

"Fuck," Stiles moans, maybe ruining the romance but he can't help it.

"I've got you," Derek whispers and kisses him filthily while thrusting deep into Stiles. He entangles their hands and press their foreheads together as he moves. Stiles tries to give just as good as he gets and tries to meet everyone of Derek's thrusts with his own hips.

"You're so tight," Derek murmurs, "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too. Fuck, I love you so much. I'm close, Derek. Fuck. Yes."

Stiles is barely aware of what he's saying but it doesn't matter, there's nothing he can say that Derek doesn't already know. He's so close and with every thrust Derek pushes him closer to the edge. Stiles moans loudly, doesn't even bother to keep quiet, when he comes. He feels as if he's coming forever and when he comes back to it Derek is thrusting shallowly, once, twice, three more times before he stills, he cock pulsing inside Stiles as he comes.

"You're the best husband ever," Stiles tells him and pats his arm. Derek huffs out a laugh and rolls off Stiles, tying off the condom.  Derek then proceeds to clean Stiles up with a wet washcloth and Stiles loves the attention he's receiving.

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" he sings under his breath. Derek laughs and kisses him before throwing away the wet washcloth. He snuggles close to Stiles' side and kisses his cheek.

"I love you too," he whispers and presses even closer.

Stiles hums something unintelligent before he start to doze off. He feels Derek's finger caress his arm softly and smiles. 

 

Being married isn't really that different from being engaged, except that they now stand a chance getting to adopt Maya. They go to the social service office on Monday filling out more papers, now claiming that they are married. Janet says they will most likely get to adopt Maya but Stiles can't relax until it's all settled.

They start clean out Norma's old room. Who knew she had so many things? Stiles finds a young Derek in one of the photo albums and giggles for half an hour about the awkward teenager in the photo.

"At least you grew into your ears," he laughs while Derek pouts and looks through a different photo album. He stares at one of the photos for a long time and Stiles stops laughing.

"What?"

"This is my dad when he was young," Derek says pointing to a man that looks almost exactly like Derek. Next to him is a woman that Derek explains is Norma.

"She was almost ten years older than my dad," Derek says, seemingly lost in thought. "Their parents didn't think they would get another child but then my dad happened."

"I'm glad he did, or else I wouldn't get to have you," Stiles smiles and Derek gives him a smile for that cheesy comment. They are married now, Stiles is allowed to be cheesy.

They are married now. Stiles smiles and looks at Derek who frowns down at the photos. Stiles really can't believe his luck, that Derek loves him just as much as Stiles loves him.

"This is their parents, my grandparents," Derek says and points to another photo of a man and a woman in old clothes.

"We should keep these, don't you think?" Stiles asks and points to the four photo albums they have found. Derek nods in agreement. They have one pile for things to throw away and one for things to keep. The keep pile is much smaller than the throw away pile.

At last they have gone through Norma's drawers and save from the photo albums and some papers on the house there isn't much to keep really. Derek goes to fetch a big garbage bag that they throw away the rest of the things in, including Norma's clothes. They need three bags for all the things but soon the room is clean out of all the small things that made it into Norma's room. They carry out the bed and the dresser to the barn and when the room is cleaned the begin the not so funny job of pulling down the wallpapers. Half-way through Maya wakes up crying and Stiles leaves to take care of her.

"Hey, baby girl," he coos at his (hopefully) soon-to-be daughter. She already feels like his and he can't imagine a life without her now. He wonders what would happen to them if they won't get to adopt Maya. They got married thanks to Maya, if she disappeared from their lives, would they get a divorce? Stiles hopes he will never have to find out. He picks up Maya from her crib and bumps her until she stops crying.

"There, there," he tells her in a soft voice. At last she stops crying.

"Come, you can be with daddies when we are working, do you want that?"

Maya doesn't answer but Stiles didn't expect her to. He puts her in the baby carrier on his chest and goes back to Norma's old room. They should probably start calling it the nursery or Maya's room instead of Norma's old room.

"Hey," Derek says and kisses Stiles on the mouth and then Maya on the head. Derek has almost ripped down all the wallpaper from the wall, now showing a hideous green wallpaper instead.

"What color should we paint it in?" Stiles asks and Derek shrugs.

"Should we have bought the color before we ripped the wallpapers down?"

Stiles shrugs. He doesn't know much about home decorating really.

"We should probably call my dad before we do anything else," he says.

Derek nods and looks a bit pale. Maybe they shouldn't have ripped down the wallpapers? But google said they should.

Stiles picks up his phone and calls his dad.

"Hey, daddy-o," he says.

"What do you want?"

"What I can't call you just to call you?"

John sighs heavily on the other end and Stiles laughs slightly.

"Okay, so we are re-decorating Norma's old room to a nursery," he says, "we have ripped down the old wallpapers and thought we were going to paint-"

"If you are going to paint you should have left the old wallpapers," John sighs and Stiles mouths 'fuck'. Derek hides his face in his palm and laughs. Stiles can't help but laugh too.

"You could put up new wallpapers though," John says.

"How do we do that?" Stiles asks and John sighs heavily.

"Have I taught you nothing?"

"I do know how to hot-wire a car," Stiles tells him, which when he thinks about it might not have been taught to him by John but by one of his former friends, one of those who had a more criminal side.

"I'm quite sure I wasn't the one who taught you how to do that," John says, sounding as if he doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"Yeah, sorry, I thought you would be proud."

Stiles' dad snorts and Stiles laughs.

"Anyway, how do I put up new wallpaper?"

"I'll come help you when I have the day off, are you free on Friday?"

"Yeah, I don't have any classes and Derek is... well, he's always home."

Derek glares at him.

"Good, see you on Friday then," the sheriff says before they hang up.

"Are you insinuating I don't do anything at home?" Derek asks with a mock-glare.

"You're just a sexy stay-at-home-dad," Stiles nods seriously and then cracks up. "I wouldn't survive a day without you, you know that."

"Yeah, I know," Derek sighs and steals a kiss before adding cheekily, "You wouldn't survive without me."

Stiles splutters but can't really come up with a reply.

 

They go shopping for new wallpaper and finally find a light yellow one with a matching border with ducks on it that they both agree on. It will make the room look much lighter than it had with the dark blue Norma had had in the room. It will also seem like a completely different room, which Stiles thinks is good.

John comes by on Friday as promised. He's not alone though but have Jordan with him. Derek and Jordan greet each other as old friends and Stiles is glad that Derek has find someone that isn't one of Stiles' friends. Not that Stiles minds sharing, he loves that Derek and Lydia get along so well, but it's also nice to know that Derek has someone who's his own friend.

"Jordan overheard me on the phone and offered to come and help," John says, "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," both Stiles and Derek say.

They get to work and Jordan and John explain how to decorate the walls. Stiles wonders why his dad never has shown him this before but when he thinks about it he remembers them re-decorating his room when he was a kid but Stiles got distracted and ran off before John even had time to show him the first width.

The work is quick with the four of them even if Derek has to go and take care of Maya when she grows tired of playing alone. They take a break and eat lunch that Derek makes.

"This one's a keeper," John says pointing with his fork on Derek. "This lasagna is delicious."

"I know," Stiles beams, "Derek's lasagna is the best."

Derek's ears turn red, something they do when he's embarrassed, Stiles has come to realize. It's very cute.

"Thank you," he says humbly and Stiles smiles at him and presses their feet together. Derek doesn't react and Stiles doesn't think much of it but keeps his foot against Derek's. They start talking about the town and John tells them all about one citizen who is sure she's seen a werewolf. They laugh and Stiles caresses Derek's foot with his own. Jordan starts choking on his food and takes some coughing before he gets it right.

"That's my foot," he wheezes at Stiles and Stiles doesn't understand what he means. "The one you are playing footsie with. It's my foot."

Derek and John stop talking and turn to Stiles and Jordan who are both red in the face.

"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry," Stiles immediately retracts his foot and Jordan waves his hand.

"Don't worry about it."

"Should I be worried?" Derek asks but looks anything but worried. He looks quite amused, the asshole.

"No, you don't need to worry," Stiles chokes out and kicks him under the table. Jordan is the one who looks pained though. "Sorry."

"It was an honest mistake," Jordan says and rubs his shin.

"See?" Stiles says to his dad and Derek who laugh at him. John looks as if this is the funniest thing ever and Derek is not far behind.  "You guys suck."

"Language, son," John says and wipes some tears from his eyes. "Soon that kid of yours will be older and snap up every word you say."

"Is that why I swear so much?" Stiles asks smugly and John looks mock-offended while Derek and Jordan laugh.

After lunch they continue put up the wallpaper and this time Stiles gets to stay with Maya and play. They play for a while until she gets tired and then Stiles puts her down for her afternoon nap. When he goes into the nursery the wallpaper is up all around the walls and Derek, John and Jordan are measuring out the border.

"This looks great," Stiles says and can't wait to buy little furniture to set inside the room. The others nod and smile at him.

The four of them make quick work on the border and then it's all done.

"This is beautiful," Stiles says and Derek smiles and puts a hand around his waist as they stand in the middle of the room, looking around. Stiles can imagine Maya growing up in this room, playing with dolls or cars or whatever she will grow up to like. Probably animals, Stiles hopes.

"Thank you so much for your help," Derek tells John and Jordan, "We couldn't have done it without you."

"No, you probably couldn't have," John laughs. Stiles punches him softly on the arm.

"It was my pleasure," Jordan says. "Have you bought any furniture yet?"

"Not yet," Stiles answers, "Going to do it next week."

Jordan nods and smiles at them.

"Come, we should get some coffee," Stiles says and herds the others out of the room and to the kitchen. He puts on a pot and they talk about growing up. John shares some quite un-flattering stories about Stiles as a kid to Derek and Jordan's great delight.

"I knew you were a devil, but I never knew quite how much," Derek says fondly as Stiles comes to sit next to him when the coffee is done.

"I was an angel," Stiles defends himself and the others laugh.

"You were all over the place," John laughs and Stiles can't but laugh as well.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," he sighs and Derek squeezes his hand on the table. Stiles smiles at him and Derek smiles back. Even if Maya turns out to be a devil, they will handle it together, Stiles is sure of it.

 

Stiles isn't quite sure what happens, one minute he might be cooking and the next minute there's blood everywhere. It's not his blood though, it's Maya's. He doesn't know what happened, he only knows that he must stop the bleeding. Derek comes into the kitchen, watching them tiredly.

"What did you do now?" he asks as Stiles tries to find the source of the bleeding. Maya is crying loudly but Derek seems unperturbed about it.

"You always do things that ruin everything," Derek tells him calmly.

"Help me find the bleeding," Stiles begs Derek but Derek just stands there with his mug of coffee in his hands, watching Stiles and Maya with disdain.

"You ruin everything," Derek tells him. "You will ruin this too. Me and Maya. You ruined your mother, killed you mother, didn't you? Your dad has told me all about it."

"No, I didn't- she- I didn't kill her!" Stiles cries, tears of hurt and frustration rolling down his cheeks.

"Stiles," Derek says. "Stiles."

Something shakes Stiles and he startles awake. He's crying.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Derek is leaning over him and Stiles can't see his face, but it sounds like he's frowning.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

It was just a dream. Just a dream. He gets up from his bed to check on Maya, to see that she is okay. She's sleeping on her back, her tiny hands fisted in her sheet. Stiles caresses her forehead softly with his fingertips and takes a calming breath. It was just a dream.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Derek comes up behind him and hugs him despite Stiles being all sweaty. He shivers and nods, but sobs anyway.

"Yeah, just a dream," he says. "A bad one."

"Yeah, I get that," Derek whispers and kisses his hairline. "Come back to bed now."

Stiles nods and follows Derek back to the bed. They curl into each other and Stiles shivers again. Derek kisses his cheeks and his forehead and then his lips.

"It's okay, I've got you," he whispers and Stiles lets the feelings of love and safety and warmth flood over him, trying to forget that nasty dream. Derek shushes at him and caresses his back and Stiles falls back asleep again.

When he wakes up the next time he has almost forgotten about that dream. Almost.

 

Jordan comes to fetch Emily on a Wednesday. Stiles doesn't think he's ever seen Jordan smile that big, Emily seems happy too and Stiles is certain that they will be inseparable. It's always nice when stories end happily, especially as Emily's started so badly.

"I would love to keep up our walks at least a few times a week though," Jordan tells Derek and Derek smiles at him. Stiles is so glad Derek has found a friend in Jordan.

"I would like that," Derek nods and smiles.

Emily goes with Jordan willingly and has no problem jumping into his car. Stiles and Derek stand on the porch watching them until they are gone.

"I'm going to miss Emily," Stiles says and Derek laughs.

"You mean miss having a big dog hovering all the covers?"

Stiles laughs.

"When you put it like that..."

"Come on it's getting cold," Derek says and they walk inside again.

 

 

They buy a tiny, white dresser for Maya's room and move her crib into her new room instead. Stiles doesn't expect her to be able to sleep in there but she sleeps just as good as she has done next to their bed. Stiles can't help but feel a bit disregarded. Derek tells him that it's good though and then Derek shows him just why it's good that they finally have the bedroom to themselves.

 

They celebrate Stiles' birthday in April in a calm fashion. No one seems to even want to go out but they are happy to stay at home. On the day of his birthday, a Wednesday, John and Melissa come by. Stiles hasn't dared to ask if they live together, he's not sure he can handle the answer. He knows his father is happy with Melissa and he wants his father to be happy - more than anything - but he's not sure if he can handle them living together just yet. So he does what any mature adult would do - pretend as if the problem doesn't exist. It has worked well so far for him.

On the Saturday after his birthday his friends come over. Lydia brings a surprise with her: Jackson's dog Minnie.

"What happened?" Stiles asks and pats the dogs head.

"Apparently Minnie didn't like living in the city so Jackson asked if I could take care of her."

"And you said yes?" Derek asks with an arched eyebrow.

"It was Minnie," Lydia says. "I have missed her, more than Jackson probably. I'm just glad I got her back."

"Then we are glad too," Derek says and pats Minnie's head as well.

"Did Jackass say anything else?" Stiles asks and Lydia shrugs.

"Said he was sorry it turned out the way it did..."

"That he was a cheating asshole?"

Lydia snorts and flips her hair over her shoulder, "Exactly."

She sighs.

"We were much more civil to one another than I thought we would be. I thought I would try to kill him. I'm still angry at him, don't get me wrong, but I think I have gotten over him."

"What? How?" Stiles asks. "Who have you been sleeping with?"

"What? I haven't slept with anyone," Lydia looks offended.

Stiles laughs.

"I thought the only way to get over someone was to get under someone else."

Lydia's confused expression clears up and she laughs too.

"Did I say that?" She laughs.

Stiles laughs too, "I think you were drunk."

"We were drunk, you mean."

"Semantics," Stiles waves his hand. "Come on, let's go to the others in the kitchen instead of standing here."

Sometime during their talk Derek had slinked off to entertain their other guests, to which Stiles is thankful. Derek is such a good husband.

 

Derek is a lousy husband.

"And then he said he loved me right during sex," Derek tells Lydia in what he thinks is a low voice but in fact is loud enough for everyone to hear. "I thought he was talking about Norma and got so sad."

Derek makes a sad face and Lydia giggles. The upside is that Lydia probably won't remember it either when the morning comes. Scott giggles too and he won't remember. Allison gives Stiles a pained expression - as the designated driver she hasn't been drinking anything either. Stiles doesn't drink because he's a recovered drug addict and they said he was in danger of being addicted again if he drank. Now he considers stealing a sip from the whiskey bottle Derek and Lydia are sharing.

"But then he wasn't in love with Norma at all. He was in love with me, can you imagine?"

"I can imagine," Lydia says and pats Derek's beard. "Your beard is really soft. Why can't I have soft beard? I mean, someone with soft beard. Why can't I have you? I mean, a different you. My own you."

"I have my own you," Scott says proudly and puts an arm around Allison's shoulders. "Allison is my own Derek."

"I want my own Derek too. Where are you from?"

"I'm from New York," Derek says thoughtfully. "We should go there, all of us."

"Yes!" Lydia and Scott cheer.

"When we have adopted Maya we can all go to New York," Derek nods.

"Alaska," Scott says. "I have always wanted to go to Alaska."

"We can go there too," Derek says and Lydia nods.

"They are going to feel great tomorrow," Allison snickers to Stiles who laughs too.

"I know, I can't wait to wake up Derek in the morning."

"Have you discussed your honeymoon anything?"

"We can't go out of the state before we have adopted Maya, so we are waiting for that."

"What's taking them so long?" Allison asks and looks irritated. Stiles is glad he has her on his side. He wouldn't dream to be on her bad side. Most of the time she's a sweet as a princess but Stiles has no doubt she could kick his ass if she wanted to. He hopes he will never give her any reason to be angry with him.

"I don't know what they are up to, honestly," Stiles sighs. "I feel like we are never going to get Maya as our own."

"It must be so hard on you," Allison says quietly - though there's no need for her to talk quietly, the others are busy singing New York, New York...

"Yeah," Stiles says. "It's quite tiresome. I just wish it all to be done so we know, you know. But on the other hand, I'm terrified that they will come to the decision that we are not good enough parents and take her away from us."

"I'm sure they won't. Anyone who's met you can see how much you adore her. Both you and Derek."

"But we're not used to babies. Not except for Maya, anyway."

"Not everyone who adopts have babies before, most of them adopt because they can't have kids of their own, you know."

Stiles sighs, "yeah, you're right. I hope we get to hear from them soon."

"I really hope so too."

Allison squeezes his hand and turns to her husband who is singing the last line of New York, New York with a hand on his heart as if it's the national anthem he's singing.

"You are crazy, you know that, right?" she tells Scott fondly.

"Crazy is who crazy does," Scott replies and then belts out "New York, New York!" on top of his lungs.

Stiles laughs at them.

"Shush, you will wake the baby," He tells Scott and the others. They immediately fall quiet and shush each other loudly.

"Don't wake the baby," they shush at each other and then start to giggle. Stiles can't help but laugh at them and Allison does the same.

 

"Kill me now," Derek groans when he comes shuffling into the kitchen the next morning.

Stiles has already been up for almost two hours and feels a bit tired but it's probably nothing compared to how Derek feels.

"Here, have some coffee and a pill for your headache," Stiles says and hands Derek some coffee.

"I'm sorry," Derek says and Stiles wonders what for. "I have a recollection of me telling Lydia and Scott about our sex life."

"Oh, that," Stiles says. "I hope they were too drunk to remember it."

"God, I hope so too," Derek groans. "You're the best, have I told you that lately?"

"Not enough times," Stiles chirps. He can't help but feeling a bit more energy come to him when he watches Derek shuffle around the kitchen.

"Remind me to tell you daily how wonderful you are," Derek tells him and presses a kiss to his cheek before he goes to prepare breakfast. Maya is playing on the floor and Derek bends down to pick her up and press a kiss to her head before he puts her down again.

"Ow," he mutters and Stiles snickers over his coffee.

 

Janet calls on Monday and asks them to come into the office the next day.

"What for?" Stiles asks her but she just repeats that they should come to her office tomorrow at noon. Stiles hangs up the phone with a sinking feeling in his chest.

"That was Janet," he tells Derek who watches him from the floor where he's been playing with Maya.

"What did she want?"

"We're to come to her office tomorrow," Stiles says. "Fuck, you think they have come to a decision?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Or maybe we just need to sign some more papers?"

"Then why didn't she say so?" Stiles asks. "I asked why and she didn't say anything. They have come to a decision and it's not the one we want."

Derek swallows hard and gets up from the floor. He hugs Stiles and Stiles realizes that he is crying.

"Fuck," he whispers. Derek doesn't reproach him for swearing.

They don't sleep that night, but lie in bed with Maya in between them. She's sleeping regardless of their crying and Stiles hopes she will come to a good home. Fuck, he can't believe they are losing their daughter. They will probably never get to see her again. Stiles lies awake, praying for her to have a good life, even if he can't be there for her. He prays that she will never get her heart broken and never get hurt. He prays that nothing bad will ever happen to her. He doesn't even believe in God.

Derek holds his hand all through the night. They don't talk much, Derek has lost all his encouraging words and his eyes are filled with tears, too.

It's a dull morning in the Stilinski-Hale household the next morning. Maya seems to feel her the mood of her parents - no matter what the state of California will say, Stiles will still call him and Derek Maya's parents, at least for today. Maya is cranky and doesn't want to eat but she's crying, which indicates that she's hungry.

"Please, baby, just eat some," Stiles tries but Maya cries and hits her tiny fists against the table.

"Let me try," Derek says and Stiles happily leaves the job to Derek, who has more patience than Stiles. Some day Stiles wonders why they even have a baby, they should... He remembers with a pang that Maya might be gone in a few hours and that they might never argue over food again. Stiles closes his eyes against the sudden rush of sadness that comes over him.

At last Derek manages to get some food into Maya and they go for their usual walk. Spring is coming and birds are chirping in the trees that are starting to turn green. Flowers are starting to bloom and the sun is shining. It's a beautiful day but Stiles can't see any of it.

"It will be okay," Derek says and Stiles gets the feeling he's trying to convince himself just as much as Stiles.

"You don't know that," Stiles mumbles and watches Maya lie in the stroller, looking at the world around her.

"You're right, I don't, but I have to believe it's going to be alright. I can't understand why the world would hand me a baby and then take it away. So I have to believe it's going to be okay."

Derek's voice is shaking and he's gripping the stroller's handle so hard his knuckles turn white. Stiles puts his hand on top of Derek's hand squeezes it tightly.

"It'll be alright."

Derek nods but he doesn't look as if he believes it.

In no time it's time for them to leave for the town. Stiles is close to tears again and when he parks the car outside the social service office he remembers when they were here that time, it seems so long ago, when he proposed to Derek. Back then they thought that if they just got married they would get Maya. How well that turned out.

He feels how it gets harder to breathe and realizes he's having a panic attack.

"Hey, breathe, Stiles," Derek says and Stiles tries to listen to his breathings and mimic it. "Hey, it's okay, Stiles. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out."

He feels himself getting his breathing under control again and turns to Derek who looks pale.

"Whatever happens, happens," Derek whispers and Stiles nods.

They stay in the car for a while longer and then when they can't sit there anymore they step out of the car. They load Maya into her stroller, maybe for the last time and walk with heavy steps towards the social services office. They wait outside for what feels like hours but also isn't enough time. Janet comes out, smiling at them, not looking at all as if she soon will take their baby away.

"Hi, Derek, Stiles," she smiles, "Hi Maya, you've gotten so big."

"She has, hasn't she?" Derek says, managing this whole thing better than Stiles. Stiles just wants to be anywhere but here and find some oxy to take. He takes Derek's hand and Derek squeezes his, as if he's sensing Stiles' distress. He probably does. He was there when Stiles had a panic attack after all.

"And everything is going good, I guess?" Janet asks and Derek answers something, probably affirmative because everything was going good until Janet called and took their baby away. Stiles feels a new panic attack approach and concentrates on breathing and not showing Janet how he's taking this.

He expects her next words to be something along the lines "I'm taking your baby away", but instead she says that their adoption has gone through and that Maya is theirs.

"Wait, what?" Stiles says and Janet smiles.

"She's yours," she says and Stiles doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry. So he does both. Derek looks to be in the same condition, picking up Maya and kissing her while laughing and crying. Stiles takes Maya from Derek's arms and presses a kiss to her head and then kisses Derek too for good measure.

"I guess you're happy about the news then," Janet smiles at them.

Stiles couldn't be happier.

They go home then and Stiles thinks they should throw a party for Maya.

"She's ours, can you believe it?" he asks Derek for the millionth time and Derek shakes his head and laughs.

 

They throw the party on the upcoming Saturday. It's just a small one for their closest friends but it's a nice affair.

"I can't believe you guys are finally parents for real," Scott says as he holds Maya to his chest. "You got the best parents, you know that? Your daddy is crazy but your papa keeps him in check."

He turns to Stiles.

"That was correct, right? You are daddy and Derek is papa?"

Stiles nods and smiles - something he's been doing a lot this past week. He still can't believe that all the waiting is over and Maya is finally theirs on paper. She has felt like theirs for ages already but it's different knowing that no one will come and take her away from them. A certain calm has settled over them and Stiles feels, if possible, even more love for both his daughter and his husband. It feels like he finally can breathe after a panic attack.

"Your smile is ridiculous,"  Scott tells him. Stiles smiles at him.

"You're just jealous," he tells his best friend who finally cracks a smile.

"Yeah, maybe I am," Scott shrugs. "Me and Allison have started talking about kids actually."

"That's awesome!" Stiles says, "then I have someone to talk diapers with."

Scott laughs.

"Hold your horses," he laughs, "We are not there yet."

"But soon, I hope," Stiles says and Scott nods with a dreamy expression.

"I hope so too," he admits.

Erica comes up to them and takes Maya from Scott with a smile.

"I want one too," she says and Stiles turns to her.

"Not before you graduate, young lady," he tells her sternly and she laughs.

"Of course not," she says, "but it would be nice to have a little copy of Boyd running around, wouldn't it?"

"So you guys finally got around to dating?" Stiles asks and Erica blushes - really, she's not ready to be a mother.

"Yeah, he asked me out last Friday."

"I'm happy for you," Stiles smiles at her and she smiles back.

"Thank you."

She hands Maya back to Scott and goes to talk to Boyd and Isaac again. Lydia comes up to them, earlier having been busy with making heart eyes and talking to Jordan.

"Hey guys," she smiles, her cheeks slightly red. "Jordan asked me out on a date."

"That's awesome!" both Stiles and Scott say.

"When?" Scott adds.

"Next week," Lydia smiles and pushes her hair out of her face. "We're going to the lacrosse game and then out for dinner."

"So you won't join our pizza night?" Stiles asks and Lydia shakes her head, a small smile still playing on her lips. "If he makes you smile like that, you're both forgiven."

"Thank you, Stiles," Lydia rolls her eyes, but she is still smiling.

"You're welcome," Stiles replies with a cheeky grin. Lydia laughs and shoves at him with her shoulder.

"Here, let me take her for a while," she says to Scott, who hands Maya over to Lydia carefully.

Stiles looks around the living room and smiles at Derek who is talking to Stiles' dad and Jordan now. Derek laughs at something Jordan says and Stiles can't believe he's so lucky to have that beautiful man as his husband. He looks at Maya who is content in Lydia's arms as Lydia sits down in one of the armchairs. He can't believe Maya is his to keep forever either.

Stiles really is the luckiest man on earth.


	9. Chapter 9

"Papa, papa, look!"

Derek looks up from the book he's reading to see Maya and Molly run up and down the agility course Stiles has built for them. Molly jumps all the obstacles like she hasn't done anything else in her life and Maya laughs excitedly.

"Papa, did you see? Did you see?"

"I saw, sweetie," Derek smiles at his six year old daughter. He can't believe she's grown so much. It feels like only yesterday when he and Stiles met for the first time and Derek found an abandoned baby in the woods. Derek and Stiles have had their ups and downs and sometimes Derek was almost sure it would end in divorce, but they are still married to this day.

"Daddy, did you see? We can do it again. Come, Molly!"

Poor Molly gets up from the ground where she's been lying and runs next to Maya as Stiles comes out of the house, carrying their newborn son Adam. Derek holds out his hands and Stiles hands him Adam without question.

"Maya, sweetie, remember that Molly is old, she can't run as much as you can."

Molly huffs and Derek thinks it sounds thankful as she comes to lie next to Derek's chair in the shadow. Maya pouts but then smiles as one of the shelter dogs come up to her and she starts playing with it instead. They have put up a fence around the garden and now all the dogs can run freely at least once a day. They have noticed how the animals seem more content as they get to come out more and the shelter is going well.

"Lydia called, they are coming by this afternoon," Stiles says and Derek nods.

Lydia has just given birth to her and Jordan's first child, a boy named Timmy. Allison and Scott, too, have kids of their own, a pair of twins called Tori and Matt that are four years old now. John and Melissa got married last year and Stiles cried all through the wedding - of happiness, he told Derek later, he didn't think his mum would have liked it any other way.

Derek smiles at Stiles as Stiles sits down on the chair next to Derek. He lends his hand to Adam to squeeze.

"What are you smiling about?" Stiles asks and Derek can't help but smile even broader.

"You. Us. The kids."

"Yeah," Stiles gets a goofy smile on his own.

"I love you," Derek tells him seriously.

"Didn't think that when you came here in the middle of the night six years ago, did you?"

Derek thinks back to their first meeting, how Stiles had threatened him with his baseball bat - a bat that to this day sits against the wall next to Stiles' side of the bed - and he laughs.

"No, I didn't see it coming," he says but couldn't be happier with the outcome.


End file.
